Don't You Dare Yawn: 2012

Saturday, July 21, 2012

COLLEGE, UGH.

I've come to that point in my life. Yes, that point. Where I embark on the rocky journey of applying to college. The only thought that runs through my head: UGH.

I'm not too sure why I decided to come to here out of the infinite nooks and crannies of the interwebs... But let me take a poke into my conscience.

This blog was created for the purposes of my AP Language & Composition class. That class reminds me of the revelation that I can write. Those inescapable things called college applications require me to write. Connection made.

So I guess I came here to rekindle my inspiration for writing. We'll see where this takes me.

(I can't wait to look back on these blog posts and CRINGE at how... me I am.)

Sunday, May 13, 2012

He Is We

I love, love, LOVE the band He Is We. At my wedding, several of their songs will be playing.

Songs for amateur fans to check out:

"I Wouldn't Mind"

"All About Us"

Blogaissance? Renaiblogssance? Renaisslog?

Butts.

(I didn't know how else to start this, but hey, now you've encountered one of my mannerisms. Better to accept my weirdness early on in this relationship.)

Well... Heyo. Now that AP Comp is centuries done (but actually it's only been a few months), I think it's time for my blog to undergo a blogaissance.... Get it... Like blog renaissance... Rebirth... Uhm... Yes. That probably a malapropism... YEUHHHH. AP TEST, I"M READY FOR YOU (but I'm really not...). (If only you could see my facial expression right now... But obviously you can't. Just know that it's a facial expression that Daily Grace frequently makes in her videos)

But yes... getting back to the point. This blog was made in AP Comp, but now that I'm no longer in it this blog is converting into a real blog. Intended to be a collection of my happiness, joy, anger, frustration, distress, sadness, eccentricity, confusion, love. All into this lovely blog. Hopefully in doing this, I'll become a more coherent writer and just organized-in-thought person, which at the moment I'm not.

On another note, isn't my new blog title so clever? I thought it was. "Don't You Dare Yawn." Let me just marvel at my cleverness... But you probably don't understand what I'm going on about, so allow me to explain. At school, I pronounce my last name like "yawn" because most Americans are incapable of actually saying my last name correctly without me shaking my head or smashing my head into the nearest table, wall, locker, or any hard object repeatedly.

Until next time

Monday, January 30, 2012

Confession

As I sit here working on (read: procrastinating from) my USH (pronounced exactly as it looks, but for those who don't know whatI'm talking about - US History) homework, I find myself wishing this USH homework would magically turn into AP Comp homework. And I'm aware that I sound crazy.

I have been staring at my USH packet for a good 30 minutes trying to think of what to write. But that actually made me miss AP Comp. At least for AP Comp, I could write something that I thought was witty (which probably ended up sounding stupid) but at least I wasn't confined to writing about the difference in opinion on Christopher Columbus of my textbook and some guy with the last name Loewen. Not really my cup of tea.

Oh, also, since the class is over and I now could care less if you all judged me, here's a link to my Tumblr. It's nothing special, but that's where I 'blog' the most often. (Blog is in quotations because I wouldn't exactly call my Tumblr a blog since I only post pictures and rarely any text). If you really feel strongly to share your judgement of me with me, there's a comment box (aka my Ask box) on it where you can express your judge-y opinions of me. And the best part is there's an anonymous option, so you can shamelessly rip on me or my blog without me knowing who you are!

Side note: It was quite liberating to be able to nap for 3 hours on Sunday and not have to worry about posting a blog post.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Back of My AP Comp Experience

A
Not my grade
Analysis
Not summary
AP Test
May
Will we have to draw a picture?
See "Frustration"
Argument
What everything is
Bitzer
Devil
Exigence
Rhetorical situation
See "Frustration"
BLA
Wednesday night
Burke Pentad
Act
Agent
Agency
Scene
Purpose
Cardona
Most fashionable teacher
Sarcastic
Sassy
Comic Sans MS
No
CRJ
Groan
Emoticons
No
F
Typical grade on quizzes
Finals
See "Frustration"
Free Write
Fridays
Never stop writing
Friends
Will get tired of hearing you whine
"You're in AP Comp too?" - Instant friendship
Frustration
I'M GOING TO FAIL
I'M NOT GOING TO GET INTO COLLEGE
Glad
I took this class
Grade
15% - Formative
85% - Summative
See "Frustration"
Honors Comm 10
Not helpful
Humorous Arguments
Parody
Satire
Orwell
God
Motives for writing
No haughty writing
Shot an elephant
Power Writing
Finger cramps
Cardona Stamp of Approval
See "Frustration"
Quizzes
See "F"
Rhetorical Analysis
First big paper
Rough
Rhetorical Appeals
Ethos
Logos
Pathos
Don't ever state them as such
Self-Esteem
All time low
See "Frustration"
Swift
Eating babies
Proposal
Satire
Toulmin
Claim, Reason, Warrant
See "Argument"
Visual Argument
Color
Commercials
Projects
See "Burke's Pentad"
Vocab
Best friend
Only quizzes that I can get an A on
So helpful for standardized tests
Writing Center
Desperately needed at our school

Monday, January 16, 2012

The Female Brain - The Book That Probably Isn't For You

If you're a woman who's looking for affirmation that your hormones are going crazy and that your mood swings are not intentional, then this is the book for you. If you're a man who's trying to justify his girlfriend/fiancé/wife's erratic behavior, then this book is also for you. However, if you're a teenager looking for an interesting read or any other type of person, this book might not be for you.

Brizendine's purpose in writing this book was to educate readers about the biology of a female's brain as well as prepare (mostly) women for their futures through the different hormonal changes in their lives. She achieves this through exhausting repetition of ideas and a lot of scientific words. These made it difficult to become invested in the book since I had heard several similar things at the beginning, which made the book become repetitive and redundant quickly. Her anecdotes that she included at the beginning of chapters and throughout seemed so extreme that it made me almost skeptical of what she was saying because only a small population of females have such extreme effects to changes in hormone levels. I found these distracted from the overall message and detracted from the readability of the book.

If you haven't already noticed, I'm not too thrilled about this book. Unless you fit the criteria from the beginning of this post or are just really bored, then you will enjoy this book. But for anyone else I would not recommend it.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Please Open On December 29, 2023

Dear 29 year old Teresa,

Happy golden birthday! Assuming you read this on your birthday...

ARE YOU ALIVE? I hope you are because it would be unfortunate if the apocalypse actually happened. But I suppose if you got past the first line, you're well and breathing. Congratulations on that!

I'm 17 now, and a junior in high school. Time flies by fast, doesn't it? It seems like it was just yesterday that I was/we were sitting at my table with my/our name neatly printed on a lamented label taped to the desk in Mrs. Strom's kindergarten class. Ah, those were the days. When naps were still a part of the daily schedule, and the most exciting thing was recess and not who got pregnant.

I'm curious. What's life like for you right now? Are you a doctor or surgeon yet? Well I guess if you went the surgeon route you're probably still doing your residency. But hopefully you're doing something with your life. Otherwise your suffering in high school, especially junior year, will have been for nothing.

So, do you remember what snow? If you do then that means you're probably still in Minnesota, and for that you should be ashamed of yourself. You are crazy for staying in a state with bipolar weather and nothing to do. After years of telling yourself that you're getting out of here, what made you stay? If it's for the U's medical school or Bethel, then I guess I understand. But I thought you'd be in California or Chicago. Most likely California since you aren't a huge fan of snow and Mom wanted you to go there so plane tickets to Taiwan wouldn't be so expensive. Eventually, you should move to California. Preferably before you turn old and wrinkly, which is right around the corner for you. Well, not really, but you'll be old before you know it.

But more importantly... Is the world like The Uglies' world yet? Are there hover boards? Ice skating rinks that float above the tall buildings? Has the government tried to brain wash everyone? Or is the world like The Hunger Games world? Kids don't have to fight to the death for entertainment purposes, right? Do you even remember those books? Well if you don't go re-read them! You were obsessed with them in middle school and high school. And for good reasons too.

What about your social life? Are you married? Do you have kids? Do the parents approve of him? Are you still friends with the people you grew up with? I hope you are because they're what got you through high school. Remember how amazing they made your 17th birthday? We tricked Sarah into thinking she ate both pieces of sushi when it was really Ivan who are the last piece when she wasn't looking. Her confusion made the rest of dinner hilarious. If you've lost touch with these people, go message them on Facebook, or with whatever social media site is popular the moment.

Wow, looking back on this letter I realize that I rudely forgot to ask how you are. So, how are you? I hope you're content with how your life turned out. Try not to do anymore stupid things because your life will be mine in 12 years.

X's (Yes, feel free to wrap your own arms around yourself),
17 year old self

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Visual Essay: Love Your Body

Process Analysis

Part One:

The images included in my video make the claim that society creates a dangerous ideal body image that females shouldn't and don't have to aspire to achieve. This claim is validated by the warrant that people care about the physical and mental state of females and do not want them to harm themselves. It also assumes that whoever is watching the video is familiar with how the media portrays beautiful women nowadays as well as the possible detrimental influence it can have over the female population. The intended audience for the video is women of all ages who struggle with their body image. After watching the video, the audience will feel encouraged disregard the unattainable ideal body that the media has created. They might also feel motivated to accept their body and embrace their beauty.

Part Two:

I chose to start out with the phrase, "Get Skinny," because I felt that it embodied the message that society and the media send to women. The images following show the so-called perfect model body that women are pressured into attaining. In this series of images, a picture of fashion/modeling icon Twiggy is included because she is the one thought to have been a major influence in the start of the thin trend.

The picture of written out dialogue shows the reaction of women to beautiful models, which are shown in the previous pictures. In the series of pictures that follow, the possible hazardous effects on women due to wanting to have the perfect body is shown. They can harm their bodies by becoming anorexic or resorting to plastic surgery. Barbie is used as an example for comparison in some of the pictures to show what women occupied with the idea of having the perfect body define as perfect.

In the last set of images, the reality of the perfect body and being beautiful is revealed. It shows that the model bodies that are thought to be beautiful or perfect aren't realistic and are almost fake. The main point of this section is that all types of bodies are beautiful. This is followed by showing attractive women who aren't stick-thin to emphasize that waist size and weight are not contributing factors to beauty. I used a famous woman, Adele who could care less about what dress size they are to inspire others to do the same. The quote from Adele that shows that she is not concerned about being the size of a model; this is inspiring to other women since Adele is a popular celebrity. The woman on the beach looks proud in her bathing suit, which can be uncomfortable for women who are insecure about their bodies. The text, "Love Your Body," is the idea of the section summed up into a neat phrase. I made the final picture an inspirational image of a woman making a heart over her stomach because it is an unusual picture that is creative so it will remain with the viewers long after watching the video. It will serve as a reminder to them to not get caught up in the media's influence.

My organization of the images creates a convenient flow of thoughts that allows the audience to see the problem, its dangerous effects, and the solution. The images support my claim as reasons because they show the negative effects that result from the media/society's creation of the perfect body.

Part Three:

Monday, January 2, 2012

Open Letter

Dear Little Wisdom Tooth That Has Randomly Popped Up,

Thank you SO much for showing up in my latest x-ray. Really. I wasn't really that excited to not have a gaping hole at the back of my mouth. But then you came along, and now I just can't wait until you squeeze your way into my row of perfectly straight-after-2-years-of-braces teeth. Seriously, they'll welcome you with open arms. Even though they don't have arms and neither do you, you can imagine them since you seem to have that capacity with a name claiming to have wisdom. It won't hurt that much.

But actually, what is with your name? Do you really have wisdom? Or are you just trying to mislead people? If you do have wisdom, then why do those darn dentists insist on taking you out? Not so full of wisdom, are you now.

Although the dentist say that you may not have to come out and that they'll check again in a few years, I'm sure you'll get yanked out and leave a nice lovely bleeding hole. And then when you're out we can be the best of friends. You'll be the nicest one I've ever had!

Sincerely,
Ecstatic Teen Who Didn't Have Any Wisdom Teeth At All Until You Showed Up