Overview Of The Class

     Overall, this English class was a lot different than I expectd it to be. In the beginning, I didn't expect there to be as many projects. I knew that we would have to write several papers and what not, but I didn't expect a lot of them. We started off reading different articles and stories, and analyzing those, which was easy and expected, but then we got into the paper writing and projects. I felt like as soon as we were done with one project, we were moving on to the next one, and it was due soon after. These projects weren't anything I couldn't handle, they were just overwhelming at some points, especially the papers that I didn't really care for.
     I guess I wish we would've done more short story and article readings, like we did towards the beginning of the class, rather than all the papers. I also wish we could've finished reading Henrietta Lacks and talked about that more. Reading that was expeceted in the beginning of the class, but as the weeks went on, we stopped talking about that book, and we weren't required to read it anymore. I personally didn't think the book was that bad at all, and that finishing it and reading it would've been a nice change up, rather than writing a paper. Even though things didn't go as well as I wished, I still enjoyed the class and the teacher, and I ended up doing well in the class, so things worked out!

Exams

     I cannot wait for exams to be over!!! I'm not a fan of studying and preparing for the exams, so I can't wait for them to be done with. Making all those flashcards, sitting around for hours studying, getting nervous for one test...definitely not a fan of finals week! I do only have two exams, but it still stresses me out. On top of everything I have to do, studying is not what I want to spend my time doing!
     Another reason why I can't wait for exams to be over with is because that means we get a couple weeks off of school! Getting that break will be so nice. I won't have to worry about getting homework done, reading all my books, or writing papers! Plus, when we come back from break, we have different classes. I'm definitely ready for a change in my schedule! After next week, it will be smooth sailing for a while and I can't wait! 

Project 4

     For Project 4 my group decided to do the Holocaust. My group consists of Alex, Alex, and DeShaun, and we chose the Holocaust because everyone knows about it. We figured since it's such a popular topic, when talking about history, it would be easy. All of us have different perspectives that we are going to write about. The four different perspectives are: writing as a Jewish individual in hiding, writing as a Jewish individual who experienced a concentration camp, a Jewish individual who survived and escaped this disaster, and as a Nazi. Looking up and finding information for these four topics should be the easiest. 
     My individual part of the project is looking up and finding information about the concentration camps. I have to find out what they were like, how many there were, how many Jews were sent there, how often they killed people here, and etc. Then, for the final part of the project, I have to write my paper as if I were one of the Jewish individuals who experienced these concentration camps. Knowing a little about what it was like and researching more information about the camps, I feel like this paper will be hard to write. Hard as in I would never want to know what it's like to have to go through something like this. 

Christmas Break

     Christmas is now less than a month away and I'm beyond excited! This is probably my favorite holiday out of them all and I can't believe it's here again! Spending time with family, drinking hot chocolate, watching movies, seeing all the Christmas lights, and of course the gifts. I can't wait. Normally, after my family opens the gifts at our house, we drive up to my grandparents house in Clarkston and have another Christmas there with the rest of the family, but this year it's going to be a little different. Since we are required to be back at Western around 3 P.M. on Christmas day, my family will have to rearrange the plans. Our basketball team does get 5 days off for Christmas, but we have to be back at school on Christmas day, which I'm not a fan of. In my opinion, Christmas day should be the one day that we get off, especially because some people live far away and they will have to leave super early on that day in order to be back on time. You shouldn't have to leave your family on Christmas day! So, instead of doing Christmas at my grandmas on Chirstmas day, we will have to either do it on Christmas Eve or some other time. I wish we could just have Christmas day off so that we wouldn't have to make any changes. Regardless of what we have to do though, I am super excited to be with my family again and have a couple of days to relax and enjoy the holiday!

Seeing Family

     This weekend I got to see my family, and it was so great! They came to watch our game on Sunday, and afterwards they took me out to eat and spent some time with me in my dorm. My sister even brought one of her friends with her, so it was really nice seeing everyone! I love when my family comes to up to Western. I like showing them what my life is like now, and what Kalamazoo has to offer. It's also cool that I know my way around here and they don't, I feel like I'm in control and showing off what I know! Showing them my dorm was fun too, my sister and her friend haven't seen it before, so it was interesting to get their persceptive and share with them what my living situation is like now. Definitely a lot different than back home! My mom also brought back some little gifts for me, which were so cute! She brought me more candy, a cable splitter so I can have cable in my room now, another little pillow, and some more money! It was very nice.
     Before coming to college, I didn't know how much I was going to miss my family back home. It's awesome having my own space and my own life here at Western, but I really do miss them back home! I love when they come up here to visit me or when I get the chance to go home. My family is who I'm most comfortable with, which is why I appreciate seeing them every once in a while. I honeslty don't know what I would do if I went to a school that was farther away. It would not only be harder for me to see them, but it would also be hard on me personally. Now that I think about it, I could have never gone to a school that was more than 3 hours away from home, it would've been way too hard. I'm so happy that I made the decision to come to Western. It's far enough for me to have my own space, but not far enough to keep me from my home and my family.

Project 3

     For project 3, I am officially doing it on Romantic Stories. I have to find 5-6 examples of romantic stories, and analyze them in order to understand what characteristics make up these kind of stories. Along with finding these examples, I also have to make a romantic story up myself, that has to be at least 3 pages long. This might not sound difficult, but I don't know how creative I can be, especially with a romantic love story! I guess we'll just have to see how it goes! Hopefully all of my research will help me along the way so I can make a great story. 

     In class on Thursday we got the news that this project isn't due until we come back from Thanksgiving break, and I couldn't be happier! I have a busy schedule, so more time is exactly what I need. This time extension will hopefully give me the opportunity to make my project better that what it was going to be. 

Thanksgiving

    Thanksgiving is coming up and I can't believe I'm going to miss out on the family dinner. Every year, my family goes up to my grandparents house to have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner together. My grandma cooks all the amazing food, all the family is there to enjoy it, we watch football after, and eventually fall asleep on the couches. Not this year though! This year, I will be in Arizona playing basketball. I can't complain too much because I will be in nice weather, with my team, but it's going to be different not having that family dinner. I hope that when we are in Arizona, our Coach plans a dinner for us on Thanksgiving so we aren't missing out on the food! I'm really excited to travel, especially with my team, I think it will be fun and a great bonding experience. We will be in Arizona for a total of 5 days, so I'm hoping to get a little tan while I'm there as well. I love being in the sun, and the nice weather, so hopefully we're not indoors the whole trip! Maybe we'll get the chance to site see as well! That would be great. I know our team is going to have a great time, it's just not going to be the same as being with my family and having that delicious home cooked meal! Everyone knows that grandma's cooking is the best! I'll have to ask for someone to save me a piece of her homemade apple pie! 

Recap

     In class on Thursday, we got the chance to learn about Meme's and actually create one ourself. I didn't know that I actually read meme's all the time, on Twitter and Facebook, which was interesting for me to find out. All of the Bad Luck Brian's and what not, on Twitter, make me laugh a lot, and it was cool to get a chance to try and make one up ourselves. Mine wasn't very good, but I liked looking at the website filled with them.
     Another thing we did in class was talk about our next project. For project 3, we have to pick a genre to analyze. After watching clips from Twilight and The Vampire Diaries, we got the chance to see what makes those two significant to romantic vampire stories, and what characteristics it takes in order to be considered that type of genre. With this project, we basically have to research what makes our specific genre different from all the others. We have to teach the class what elements and characteristics it takes in order to be considered that genre. I decided to do my project on romance. I'm really into the romantic movies and books, so I think I will enjoy doing this genre. I also think it will be fun to look up and teach. 
     All of these projects are a little overwhelming, especially with all of the other things that are going on in my life, but if I keep working on them little by little, I will eventually finish them. I just can't wait until Thanksgiving when we get a break from all the schoolwork and studying! My mind can take a break for a little while! 

Meme

http://qkme.me/3ro2ru :)

Pinterest

     Pinterest is the best thing ever! For those who don't know what Pinterest is, it's an app, or a website, that has recipes, fashion ideas, home decor ideas, quotes, and much more. It's kind of like a mini-google, but you don't really type in what you're looking for. When you have a Pinterest account, you just look at everyone else's "pins," and see what's out there. You can pin things yourself, or you can re-pin other people's pictures. After getting a Pinterest account, I cannot stop looking through it. Whenever I'm bored, I look at Pinterest, no matter what time of the day it is. I haven't pinned anything yet, I just like looking at what other people have to put out there. I get a lot of great quotes from Pinterest, I also get a lot of great home decor ideas. I actually have a picture album on my computer now that's labeled 'Future Home,' and it contains all the pictures I found from Pinterest that I want in my future house. For example, someone pinned what they're new kitchen looked liked, and it was beautiful, so I added it to that album because I want a kitchen similar to that when I'm older! Another example of what I get off Pinterest is beauty tips. I learned on Pinterest that if you use coconut oil on your hair, it's supposed to help it grow! Little things like that pop up every now and then, and they're really interesting. Bottom line, I love Pinterest, and can totally blame it for burning my phone's battery life away!! 

Project 2

     For Project 2, I decided to stick with analyzing the song "She Ain't You" by Chris Brown. I really like this project because we got to pick something of our own choice. By choosing on our own, it gives us the chance to enjoy the project. No one likes writing papers, but when it's on something that we're interested in, it makes everything a little better! It actually makes the research and the work not bad. It also makes the paper get down a lot faster. When your writing a paper that you're not interested in or have no idea about, you have no motivation to write it, and it takes a long time to finish. Picking your own topic is much better! 
     In class on Thursday, we got to peer edit each other's papers, and as much as everyone doesn't like to, I actually appreciate it. Having someone else read your paper makes it easy to see the grammar mistakes. Since they didn't write it, they don't know what you're trying to say, so they can pick out the mistakes easily, which helps you in the long run. I also like peer editing because when I can help someone make their work better, it makes me feel good. It makes me happy to help them, and I'm glad we get the chance to do it as a class.

Halloween!!

     Halloween, what a great holiday! Dressing up in costumes, scary movies, getting lots of candy, carving pumpkins...who wouldn't love Halloween?! I guess it is more of a kid holiday, but I will love it no matter what age I am! My favorite part about Halloween is probably the candy! So much candy comes out in the stores and it's so good! The candy corn, caramel apple suckers, and all the rest of the candy is the best! I always stock up on it! Even now, I have bags of it in my dorm room, so whenever I have a sweet tooth I have a lot to choose from. Not only do I love all the candy, I also enjoy seeing all the different costumes. The little kids are my favorite! They're just so cute. My least favorite part of it all is probably the scary movies. I'm not the biggest fan of scary things, if I'm with a group of people or with someone who will make it not as scary I'm okay with it all, but for the most part, I do not like scary things! I would much rather watch a funny, happy movie. Overall though, I do like Halloween and will always participate in some sort of Halloween activity for the rest of my life! 

Last Free Weekend

     This past weekend was my last free weekend before my life starts to get really busy! Our first game is on Friday and after that, I won't be able to go home until Christmas. I also won't have a free weekend until March! It hasn't hit me yet, but it's crazy to think how busy I am going to be. Traveling to other states, being gone for Thanksgiving break, playing basketball every single day, it's going to be a hand full! I've never been away from home for more than a month, so these next couple of weeks will be the test to see how I do. I love the freedom and stuff, but it's nice going back to see everyone every once in a while. Knowing that I won't get to sleep in my real bed until Christmas sucks! The good thing is, I will be having fun with my team, and doing the thing I love most. Plus, my family isn't too far away, so they will be able to come and watch a lot of the games. It's nice to know that they will be there supporting me all of the way.

She Ain't You

     For Project 2, I picked to analyze a song. At first, I was going to analyze a movie, The Last Song to be exact, but I don't want my paper to end up as one big summary. In order for my paper to have more analyzation and thought, I decided to go with a song instead. I picked the song "She Ain't You" by Chris Brown. I picked a Chris Brown song because he not only is very popular and well-know, but he also went through a lot in his life. His songs probably relate to the events that he's been through, which is why I think it would be easy to analyze. Listening to this song, it gets me wondering things like who he's talking about, what the song title means, does it relate to anything in his past? If I had to guess, I would think it has something to do with his whole Rihanna experience. Everyone knows he messed up and ruined a great relationship a couple years ago, so that's why I think this song is about his past with Rihanna. I also know that Chris Brown dedicated this song to Michael Jackson. He was a big inspiration to Chris, and I think this song got Chris thinking about how life can one day be gone, just like Michael's was, and how he maybe regrets some of the things he did. My thesis is going to be something like: The song "She Ain't You" is Chris Brown's song dedicated to Michael Jackson, thanking him for being such a great role model and inspiration, and expressing his thoughts and feelings about how his life is now affected by his past relationships. 

Game Time

     November 2nd is our team's first game and I couldn't be more excited! We have been working hard all summer and we are finally going to be able to transfer all of our hard work to the court soon! We play Wayne State, and even though it's an exhibition game, which means it doesn't really count, we are all still very excited. Going through all those summer workouts, our month of preseason, condition, lifting, and practices, we are ready to take it to the court. I'd say that we've been working pretty hard in practice lately, and when November 2nd comes, we'll all be anxious and prepared to get after it. Our coaches are definitely ready for games to start as well! They all keep saying how they can't wait to see us in action. With a whole new coaching staff, and a whole new system, I also think the community is ready to see what kind of team we are now! Being a Freshman, and being new to this whole college basketball thing, I am beyond excited! I don't know how much playing time I am going to get, but that's not what I'm thinking about. I just want my team to play good, have fun, and pull out a win! We've all have been giving it our all and I just can't wait to hear the referee blow the whistle that starts the game! 

Class Update

     In class on Thursday, we went through more detail about Carrie and we did class presentations as to who each group thought was the monster in the movie. My group got assigned Carrie, so we had to present to the class why we thought the real monster was Carrie. Personally, I didn't think she was the monster in the movie, but we didn't get to choose who we got, so I had to think of reasons to back Carrie up. We decided that she was the monster because she obviously murdered a lot of people! Burning up mostly everyone at the prom and stabbing her mother gave us good backup with this. We also said that she used her powers for bad. She would always be doing negative things with her powers, she never used them for something good. For example, when the little boy on the bike was laughing at her, she used her powers to make him fall off the bike. Another example was when she made the principle's ash tray move on the desk. Carrie never once used her powers to do something positive. All of these reasons we used to back up the fact that Carrie was the monster. Like I said, I don't agree that Carrie was the monster, but our group could at least find some examples as to why some people would think that. If I had to choose who the monster was, I would say it was either Carrie's mother or the Carrie's peers. Both of them influenced Carrie's life negatively, which is why I believe Carrie was so weird and anti-social.

Summer/Fall

     I can't believe it's already halfway through the month of October! Time has been flying by! The fact that it's fall shocks me! I feel like it was just summer time! I had to come to Western at the end of June and that feels like it was just yesterday. Time is seriously going way too fast! Next I know it, it's going to be Christmas. I remember I went to the grocery store the other day and I saw that they were already putting out Christmas stuff and it made me so sad because it's not even Halloween yet! I guess I'm just starting to see how fast time really does go! 
     The weather that comes with fall isn't my favorite! The fast winds, cold, gloomy weather isn't my kind of weather! I'm more of a summer girl. I like the warm, sunny, outside weather. I can deal with the cold weather for a little while cause I love wearing sweatpants, sweatshirts, and especially my UGGS, but after a couple of months, I get sick of it and want my summer weather back! Seeing how fast time is going though, maybe the weather won't be as bad as I think. That's what I'm hoping for because I hate being cold and walking around campus doesn't help! 

Carrie

     The movie we watched last Thursday was called Carrie. I guess it was supposed to be a horror film, but it did not come off as a scary movie to me! In my opinion, it was very, very weird! I could see where one would think it was a horror film because of the events that happened, but I wasn't that scared and I'm not a fan of the scary movies! The reason why I thought it was weird was because of the main character, Carrie. She just acted so shy and different all the time and her actions throughout the whole movie were not normal! Guaranteed, she did have that devil-ish power of controlling things with her mind, but she still didn't act normal regardless. What I also thought was stange was the fact that the mom was just as weird as Carrie! I couldn't tell if the mom was supposed to be evil too, but she came off as it. She never let Carrie have her own life and do things that teenagers do, which is why I think Carrie was so weird, her mom didn't let her have any fun. So i guess the mom was a negative impact on her life. Especially at the end, when the mom was hiding in her room and eventually stabbed her, you could see that she really was evil. I mean who stabs there child? That's just messed up! Overall, I think that the main villan was the mom. I know that Carrie killed pretty much her entire grade, but I still think the mom was the main reason for Carrie's weirdness and craziness.

Literacy Narrative Thoughts

     After writing my literacy narrative I had mixed feelings about it. What I mean by this is that there were both good and bad things to it. I liked how it was about our own personal experience and how easy it was to write, while I was writing it, it seemed to flow and it didn't take me too long to do. These are the kind of papers I enjoy writing; the easy ones! On the counterside, I didn't really like the topic of the paper. I didn't feel like it was that interesting. After writing mine and then proof reading some of my classmates, I didn't find them that fun to read! Maybe it was because some people didn't use enough detail or dialgue, but these papers were not interesting to me at all! I liked the narrtive's that we wrote before, they actually told a story that was significant in some type of way. Those were more interesting to read and hear about then these literacy narratives. That's just my opinion though!

Cheese

     This blog post may be a little odd to some people, but I'm going to be writing about cheese. Cheese, as I mentioned in my Introduction bullet points, is my go-to snack! Whenever I'm feeling hungry and want a little snack, I always happen to eat cheese. Whether it be string cheese, cutting up pieces from a block of cheese, some cheese crackers, or dipping pretzels in cheese, I always end up eating something that has cheese in it. I just love it so much and think it's so good! I never get sick of it. If there were two things for me to choose to eat for the rest of my life, one of them would be cheese. I really don't think a day goes by when I don't have something with cheese in it, on it, or dipped with it. I know it may be a little weird, but that's just me. How chocolate is to some people, cheese is to me! I never pass up a cheese stick, unless of course, it's warm. Never eat warm cheese, it's not too tasty. Bottom line, I love me some cheese!! 

Literacy Narrative

     For my literacy narrative I'm most likely going to be writing about my Sophomore year English class. This class was one of my favorite English classes ever. I had a really great teacher who explained things in a way that I understood very well. We read a couple of books throughout the year, some I didn't like, some I did, and at the end of the year we had to write a persuasive essay that was probably my favorite essay I've ever written. One of the books we read that I didn't find interesting at all was House On Mango Street. It was boring and I didn't feel like there was a point to it at all. One of the books that we read that I did find interesting was A Midsummer Night's Dream. Even though it was Shakespeare and a little hard to read at points, I really like it! My teacher was great at explaining these books and helping us understand the key points in each. I think that's why I liked her so much. She would help us understand the book, but at the same time she would challenge us to learn things by ourselves. After reading these books, we had to write a persuasive essay on any topic of our choice. I chose to write about how varsity athletes shouldn't be required to take a gym class in High School. I think I liked writing this because it was my own opinion and I could express my own feelings. Yes, I had to do a little bit of research to back up my information, but I really enjoyed writing it. I guess I like writing papers in which I can have some say in them, to get my opinions and feelings out. Which is why I think I will like writing this literacy narrative. It's going to be my own experience and my own story, which will be easy to write about. 

Home

     Going home this weekend was the best feeling ever! Living two hours away isn't too bad of a drive, but seeing how busy I am, it's difficult for me to go home. Before this last weekend, I hadn't been home for a good month! This was a very long time for me, I've never been away from my house and my family that long before and I was starting to get a little home sick! I just missed my bed, my dog, my family, home cooked meals, and the feeling of being at home! The minute I figured out that I was about to go home, I was very excited! Guaranteed, I was not able to get home until Saturday night due to our basketball schedule, which only gave me a day or so, but it felt so good to be there! Getting caught up with school and basketball, time went by so fast and I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd seen my family. Yes, I talk to them very often and what not, but it's not the same as being there. When I got home this weekend, both my family and I were very excited! I took my brother out to lunch, caught up with one of my best friends, got cooked a couple of meals, got to sleep in my own bed, and much more! It was a great feeling! Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love college, but it is nice going home every once in a while.

New Class

     Coming to college you're going to experience some classes that you don't like and some that you find really interesting. This new English class is one that I actually think I am going to like. It doesn't sound like it's going to be too boring and having been in it for a couple of weeks now, the assingments and class work that we do aren't that bad! Plus it's a small class with a nice professor, which is always a good thing! With this class in particular, I really like how we get to use the computers and enage as a class online; especially with this blogging! It's a different way to get to know people and understand them better and I really like it! I have never blogged in my life, nor have I ever kept up with someone's blog, so this is all really new for me. I think I will like it though! I also like how this class is forced to interact with eachother during the class itself. With a small class like this one, if no one ever talked or volunteered or engaged with the class, it would be super boring and no one likes a boring class! That's why I like when we do group activities or activities that involve the class as a whole. What I hope to get out of this class is how to write and analyze certain papers and what professors look for in particular papers. Basically any type of information that would help me in the long run with certain projects or maybe even future things that deal with my chosen career path. 

Life Of A College Athlete

     Being a college athlete you have to be focused, determined, patient, strong, willing, and much more. You not only have to put all your effort into school work and studying, but you also have to put all your effort into your particular sport. Going to workout, practice, class, getting your meals and sleep in, and getting all of your homework and studying done can be very stressful sometimes for the typical student athlete. I, for example, am a Freshman basketball player here for WMU and i haven't even been in school for a month and I have already been super stressed! Trying to balance everything in my life is difficult at some points because I feel like there aren't enough hours in the day. Basically my life, during the school week, consists of going to workout, going to class, eating, going to study tables, and sleeping! I don't have that much time to do fun activities or do things for me personally. I have to take care of that stuff on the weekend. Don't get me wrong, being a student athlete is more than fun and definitely worth it, but things can get a little crazy every once and a while. For example, I have a class directly after workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I don't really have time to get lunch. I either have to eat on the go or wait until later in the day. This isn't really good for me because being an athlete, I have to make sure to take care of my body and give it the right about amount of food and energy it needs in order to get me through the day. Not eating after workouts and waiting until later in the day is generally a bad idea! It not only leaves me super hungry, but it is also bad for my body! I am now learning to either pack myself a lunch or stop in the cafe really quick to get something to go. After workouts, all of my classes and getting some study table hours in, I still have to maybe finish homework and get more food in my system. Finding the energy to do all of this is sometimes a challenge for me because all my body wants to do after a long day like that is sleep! I try to tell myself that if I focus for a couple of hours and get everything done I can get to bed at a good time and get a some good sleep. I try to get into bed at a decent time every night because I know I need to be awake and ready to go the next morning! Everything that I have talked about may make being a student athlete sound really stressful and busy, but in reality it's not that bad! Yes, you are always going to be busy and have things to do, but I love being a student athlete. It's so much fun, gives me so many amazing opportunities, and has a lot of great benefits! Learning to deal with all of my responsibilities and getting my time-management skills on track is just part of the experience. With that being said, I definitely don't know what I would do with my life if it weren't for sports and playing basketball. It's what I live for and what I love to do. 

Introduction

Hey, I'm Jessica Jessing, JJ for short! Listed below are 5 fun facts about me.

1. I play basketball here at WMU!

2. I absolutely love cheese. It's my go-to snack!

3. My favorite animal is a giraffe because I love their skin (print) and I think they're very interesting creatures.

4. I love to laugh. I laugh all the time, even though some people find my laugh very loud and annoying.

5. I love laying out. Being tan makes me happy! With that being said, I do not tan in a tanning bed, that is very bad for you and I will never do it! I like the natural tanning and the natural look. 

I am a very friendly and energetic person, so hopefully my blog isn't boring for you!! 

Have a great day!! :)