Thursday, February 28, 2013

Haiku of the Day - Feb. 28


It's actually a sonnet today.



SURPRISE!!!





Sonnet Number Ten

I see you standing over by the trees.
You marvel at the stubbornness of life.
You travel anywhere that you may please
And hope to leave behind your pain and strife.
Your eyes shine bright with questions you must voice.
Your overcoat hides pinstripe ev’rything.
You suffer from your most important choice,
But still you love to hear the planets sing.
I want with all my heart to tag along
And see all of creation through your eyes.
We two would put an end to all that’s wrong,
And maybe I could stop your lonely sighs.
A life can be mundane when ruled by clocks…
Please let me come along in your blue box.



Sonnets are hard to write. For a few minutes after I got done writing this, all my thoughts were coming out in iambic pentameter. It was very strange.

Also, pardon my nerdiness. 

My challenge to you: Find a way to fit "sonic screwdriver" into a Shakespearean sonnet. I tried so hard and just could not do it. Post it in the comments if you succeed and I will hail you as victorious.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Haiku of the Day - Feb. 24



















Cursive is pretty.
I really like my cursive.
Cursive haiku! Yay!

The Process of a Paper

I had a paper due on Friday. The topic was the way certain feminist authors handled the perceived relationship between gender and reason. The texts I worked with were "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin, "The Yellow Wall-Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and "Trifles" by Susan Glaspell.

I did not like this paper at all. I wasn't overly fond of the texts and I wasn't completely confident in my analysis. None of the other topics appealed to me any more than this one did, though. Neither did most of the other texts that we've read so far in this class. I am most definitely not a fan of Modernist poetry.

Buuuuut I did the best I could. It was a process. Here's what my process looked like:














That's a lot of paper.

Here's Step 1:














Reading the various works, underlining and marking the pertinent quotes with Post-Its, organizing the quotes into an outline. Usually when I write papers for my lit classes, I take a very long time making my outlines. I make them very organized and detailed, and the only thing left for me to do afterwards is to turn the outline into complete sentences. I skimped on the outline this time- and BOY, did I suffer for it.

Step 2:














The first draft. My attention span is not good when it comes to making the first draft; I usually end up sitting at a computer for several hours while mentally whining and complaining. But it gets done. Eventually. My professor asked us to bring in two copies of our rough drafts for our classmates to workshop. I'd never had an analysis or close reading paper workshopped before. Usually I only do that kind of thing in creative writing classes. However, I found it very helpful- especially when my classmates suggested some different/better vocabulary. Yay English majors and their thesaurus brains!

After my professor and my classmates marked up my rough draft a bit, I went home and tore it to pieces. My professor had given me some very specific advice about things I needed to include- like, the kind of advice you don't turn down if you want a decent grade on a paper. So I took some things out and added in other things (we had a word limit/target). I was feeling rather benevolent that evening, so I made my edits in purple instead of my usual red. Editor!Me is vicious, especially when editing or revising my own work.

Step 3:














I moved so many things around and wrote so much completely new material that it became necessary to transcribe it all onto another sheet of paper. It was ridiculous. But that particular evening, I happened to be better at writing when I did it with a pen instead of my laptop, so it was all okay. Afterwards I transferred the changes onto my digital copy. Sometimes I'm more productive when I write things by hand and sometimes I'm more productive when I type. Not sure why. It just happens that way.

Step 4:













Another draft. I have never done so many drafts for one paper. But this one was less intensive than the previous one! It was unusual that I had to reorganize and rewrite so much of my first draft (probably happened because I didn't have a good outline), but this step is a normal part of my paper-writing process. Usually I end up writing the entire first draft the night before the paper's due (I don't recommend it), sleeping for a few hours, then getting up early and scribbling all over it with a red pen. That makes the paper better. I don't know how- it's magic! And then I transfer all the changes onto my digital copy. I highlight my red edits when I've fixed them on my computer so I can make sure I've fixed everything.

And that's how I write a paper! Ta-daaaa!

Although sometimes there's a lot of caffeine involved.

Paper Nightmare



In case you've ever wondered what English majors' nightmares are like...
That and running around in 1920's Paris in a flapper dress and blue Converse.

I guess this is why I shouldn't write papers or watch Midnight in Paris before bed.

(ALTHOUGH MIDNIGHT IN PARIS IS AMAZING AAAHH!)

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Another Valentine For You!


:) Love y'all.

Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers!


I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who are reading this blog right now! Thank you so much for giving it a look! I hope your Valentine's Day is full of love and happiness! If you don't have a significant other, don't feel bad today! I love you! And besides, tomorrow all the chocolate will be fifty percent off.

Happy Valentine's Day!



Happy Valentine's Day from my Nerf gun and me!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Haiku of the Day - Feb. 13


Oh, what a headache!
I feel so crummy today,
But here's your haiku.

Because I love you.

And because I need more excuses to play around with my tablet.

But mostly because I love you.

HAPPY DAY!


Yup!
I got a Bamboo Splash tablet. My area of expertise is definitely writing, but I like to draw cartoons and comics from time to time. I got so jealous of how some people's webcomics look that I decided to take a leaf out of their book and get myself a tablet. I'm very, VERY excited.

Still getting the hang of everything, but hopefully soon I'll be able to crank out some fun cartoons for you guys!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Tools of the Trade - Part 2














This is probably the most un-boring writing utensil I have.

I am an avid fan of the BBC show "Doctor Who," and when I found out you could actually buy a sonic screwdriver, I just had to have one. I got the Tenth Doctor's screwdriver because Ten is my favorite. I really like it! It lights up and buzzes like the Doctor's does on the show, and it extends, too. It's even functional in that it's a pen. It comes with two pen nibs: one that writes in black and one that writes in invisible ink. The sonic screwdriver's light can be used to reveal the writing.

I gotta be honest: I don't use this pen for writing very much. Usually I just run around my dorm and point it at light fixtures while I flick the light switches on and off.

So although my sonic screwdriver can't unlock doors or calibrate technology or put up cabinets, it is very authentic in that it doesn't work on wood. And it's awesome.


Friday, February 8, 2013

Getting very sleeeeeepyyyy... Part 2

Here are some more notes from when I fell asleep in my literature class:














I like how that line starts out okay but then just gets progressively worse as I slip out of consciousness.

I looked at those notes a few hours later and found it necessary to transcribe them while I still remembered what they were supposed to say. Good thing I did, because... I'm pretty sure nobody could read that, not even me.

Please understand that I don't regularly fall asleep in class. I find it very disrespectful to the professors and an extremely bad idea for anyone who wants to actually learn. I've had semesters where I was bad about nodding off in the middle of lectures (it happens when you stay up late all the time), but I'm a new person this spring! I've been doing really well at staying awake. It's just... modernist poetry, you know? It's like my brain gives up completely on trying to understand it.

Brain: ...nope, I'm done. G'night.

Although you may notice in the picture that the notes I took today (directly under the sleepy mess) were very neat and informative, which happens when someone is awake, alert, and attentive during class. I'm going to try to make all my notes look like this from now on. I shall redeem myself and regain my honor!

Haiku of the Day - Feb. 8

Procrastinating
It'll come back and bite me
But I don't wanna!!!


The childish cry of despair coming from a girl who passionately does not want to blog about the French economy today.

On the off-chance that anyone reads this blog who cares about the French economy... Any ideas for something I could write about? Doesn't hurt to ask.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Haiku of the Day - Poet Notebook Special

So I got kind of behind on my Haiku of the Day. Sorry. To make up for it, I'm going to post every haiku from my Poet Notebook. This notebook is a project for my Poetry Tour class. I have to write poetry in it for fifteen minutes every day. Sometimes when I've run out of things to say in a poem and I still have time left, I'll throw together some quick haiku. There's not a ton of haiku yet, but I expect there'll be more by the end of the semester.


Humorous snowmen
Guarding the yard with stick arms
Here come the snowballs


I wore a red scarf
Once upon a frozen time
Jack Frost could not bite


I ate Nutella
Right out of its plastic jar
And without a spoon


I want my breakfast
Too bad it's only midnight
My tummy's growling


Doctor Who is on
So don't you dare talk to me
I'm busy, you fool

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Raven Victory!

Woohoo! The Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl!

I'm not really partial to the Ravens. I'm not even really partial to pro football. I'm much more a fan of college football, but I do have an NFL team that I'll root for. Sadly, my team was knocked out of the running long ago. Oh well. I picked the Ravens because one of its players played for my school last year and I really like the name Baltimore. It just has a nice ring to it.

And they won! Yay!

I ate taquitos with queso and drank Arizona green tea during the game. I followed up with Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream. During that period of time when the lights in the stadium went out, I shot at the walls of my dorm with my Nerf gun. Some of the darts are still stuck up there.

I enjoyed the commercials. I was disappointed that the showgirls got the Coke... I wanted the cowboys to win, but oh well. I tuned into the game late and apparently missed a very good Oreos commercial. I'll have to keep my eye out for it. Probably the commercial I enjoyed the most was the Iron Man 3 trailer that promised viewers an extended look. The extended look was the best part. I won't give it away for anyone who hasn't seen it, but you should definitely go look it up:

www.facebook.com/ironman

The extended... look.

I laughed my butt off. Then I watched it again and laughed my butt off again.

I wasn't sure if it was Robert Downey Jr. or Tony Stark... which is the beauty of RDJ and Tony Stark.

Halftime was pretty good! I wasn't really digging the sound quality, but I appreciated the song selection! Beyoncé was fabulous as she always is. I may or may not have danced embarrassingly during "Single Ladies."

All in all, quite an enjoyable game. Congratulations, Ravens!