Personal Edition Numero...#softtweet

I love chocolate. Like, a lot.

Reading Reflection # 12

       Tweet #1: 

I went online today and read #PostSecret...I think that, sometimes, a secret tells a lot more than what's written...@Cre8tiveHavoc #RR12

       Tweet #2:

Check out the new Christmas secrets!There's great visuals and it puts a weird twist on most people's favourite holiday@Cre8tiveHavoc #RR12

Personal Edition Numero..Not So Christmasy.

Personal Edition Numero..Good Greif.

...still love the Six Word Memoirs...can you tell?

Personal Edition Numero...I wish I knew.

I Wish...

      I really liked this image when I saw it at first...only because it made a REALLY good Facebook cover photo. Then I began reading the wishes and they were actually pretty interesting. It reminded me a lot of our buried life assignment...the only difference is that people made wishes they knew could possibly come true...or that were so unrealistic to the point to of being funny. For example, "I wish Pokemons were real," does everyone wish they were real? Of course. Will they ever be? Probably not. The mix of reality and fantasy was really unique and I think an assignment like this would be good to do in class at some point...hint hint...

Oh, and this photo doesn't belong to me! I saved it to my desktop a lonnnggg time ago because I loved it, I tried to find the link to it but couldn't. Is this copyright? Meh, probably, but I'm praising it, so I think it should be fine...

Personal Edition Numero...Incredibly Disorganized

Provincial English Exam...Help!

         I got this topic for a a personal edition by creeping on Sam Deckert's blog, because I knew he just recently added a lot. Here's the link to his personal addition about the Grade 12 provincial English exam- http://goo.gl/dK5Ih. If you didn't read it, he basically talked about how worried he was about it, how little time we have to write it, how it is worth SO MUCH...30% of our final grade...and that this exam could really make or break your chances of getting a scholarship at university. All I can think of in response to same is, ditto. It just...well, to be truthful, it just sucks that this is probably one of the most, if not THE most, important exam I will ever take in high school...AND THERE'S NO WAY TO STUDY FOR IT! We have honestly gotten no exam preparation and I...obviously, feel so unprepared. I didn't think a lot of people stressed so much over this exam...or thought about a lot of these results of it so much, so it was nice to see Sam's post! I've already got accepted into the U of W for advanced early admission...so my Grade 12 marks don't matter as much...but I didn't know what faculty I wanted to go into at the U or M so I haven't applied there yet...and their mark qualifications are so much harder! I am honestly terrified for this exam...not so much the essay or writing piece, more so the question booklet because 3 hours is NOT much time at all, and the questions are so...well, hard and they are pretty much made so people can bull shit their way through it. Everything is always exaggerated and no one is truthful. They just want to get an answer down. I always stumble over questions like these when there's a time limit. Plus, I know we're going to get stuck with an awful topic like Lines or something similar...I mean, I'm going into the exam with 100...and yes I know, I don't have to worry about a bad mark...if I got a 50 on the exam, my mark goes to an 85 which isn't tooooo bad...but becuase my mark is so high every point I get off on the exam lowers it by 0.3%!!!!!! Which makes it so stressful and way more of a difference than if I had started with a lower mark. I really hope I do well and don't start to panic while writing this...It's the question booklet that's going to kill me, I know it...

Personal Edition Numero...122112

End of the...World?

      In advance, I need to warn whoever is reading this that this post will be absolutely scattered! Well, tomorrow is December. 21 2012...the end of the world. I'm not too sure if it ends RIGHT on the start of the day, or after the entire day...at midnight...so...it's 11:53pm on December 20th, which means I could possibly be in the middle of writing this post and bam, the world...ends? I don't know, that sounds kind of weird to say...or funny. Anyways...I must say, if the world were to honestly end, I haven't really done much that I'm glad I did...and I think I have a lot of regrets. I stressed the small things, put school first, and pretty much lived a boring, safe life. Also, whats really the point to life? If we die anyways. I mean, we're all going to die so isn't it better if its done at once, so there'll be no one left to grieve and live in pain from the loss of a loved one? I guess it all depends...AH! 12:00...world still intact. I'll just keep writing...thats another thing! If the world did end, I spent it doing homework...didn't send any last minute meaningful texts...didn't say anything to my family...I just kept to myself. A+ for carpe diem I would say. Well...I'm not done with this post, but I'm going to leave it for today...what an awkward little rant to read...but whatever, you'll live...I mean, if you're reading this, you've already survived an apocalypse. Nice one. 

Bucket List

1. Learn how to play guitar*

2. Travel to Ireland*

3. Marry an Irish man

4. Go bungee jumping...and live

5. Rescue a dog**

6. Have three kids

7. Backpack through Africa

8. Order dinner for two at a restaurant. Eat both.

9. Be an extra in a Hollywood movie

10. Learn to snowboard

11. Cut my hair for cancer*

12. Attend a Mumford and Sons concert**

13. Dye my hair dark brown

14. Ride an elephant

15. Pet an orca whale

16. Get a tattoo*

17. Get another tattoo*

18. Meet the cast of Harry Potter

19. Live in Montreal

20. Ride a camel through the desert

21. Learn how to speak French**

22. Own a pet snake

23. Learn how to speak Spanish

24. Sew my own dress...and make it look decent

25. Have a free shopping spree at Safeway

26. Learn to skateboard*

27. Save money to buy a clean well through World Vision**

28. Go dog sleeding up North

29. Create my own recipe for a dessert**

30. Make a batch of Christmas macaroons successfully

31. Sponser a child in Africa

32. Eat Gelato in Italy**

33. Order a meal from a restaurant with an Irish accent...and keep it going the whole time

34. Train my dog to "play dead"
35. Be in the audience for an Ellen show
36. High five all the Jets players
37. Eat at McDonalds in formal wear*
38. Yell "you can't handle the truth!" at the perfect moment
39. Order a venti ice water at Starbucks and complain that its too cold
40. Learn all the lyrics to Tom Lecher's "The Elements" song*

41. Dye a streak of my hair light purple
42. Learn how to wind surf
43. Swim beside a waterfall
44. Make a significant difference in someones life
45. Be involved in the movement to end human trafficking
46. Grow my nails long enough to scratch a chalkboard*
47. Bake a cheesecake from scratch
48. Go on a camping trip with all my friends
49. Get my motorcycle license
50. Buy my own motorcycle
51. Pay it forward by buying a families groceries
52. Buy a sea doo
53. Solve a Rubik's cube*
54. Go to university**
55. Go to a shooting range
56. Help a homeless person get a job and a home
57. Overcome my fear of public speaking*
58. Be a maid of honour for someone
59. Start to write in a journal
60. Buy a chow chow puppy
61. Buy a leonberger puppy
62. Hold a Koala
63. Be in the audience for an SNL show
64. Go carolling at Christmas**
65. Be in a flash mob
66. Visit every province in Canada
67. Backpack through Europe
68. See a Kangaroo in Australia
69. Help someone cross off something on their Bucket List**
70. Put in at least 100 volunteer hours for Winnipeg Harvest
71. Donate blood at least once a year...if I'm able to**
72. Tell someone "I love you"...and mean it
73. Graduate from University**
74. Help a family have the perfect Christmas**
75. Participate in Comic Con in San Diego
76. Build a professional snow fort*
77. Become a plastic surgeon
78. Save up to buy a black grand piano
79. Be a regular volunteer at a children's hospital
80. Take cooking classes...and baking classes*
81. Buy someone else's coffee in a drive through
82. Spend a night in a graveyard**
83. Help a family have the perfect Christmas**
84. Break the law...in a harmless manor**
85. Learn calligraphy*
86. Keep in touch with my friends after high school*

Reading Reflection # 11

       Tweet #1: 

I flipped through the book #SoulPancake by Rainn Wilson and I couldn't have been more surprised, it was just so...real. #RR11@Cre8tiveHavoc

       Tweet #2:

I loved how a question about life is asked and it is up to you to answer it for yourself..it also has some AMAZING art #RR11@Cre8tiveHavoc

Personal Edition Numero...

If you really want to know, count.

http://humortrain.com/post/36303213393

       I don't know...I really liked something about this picture and message...I think its because it lets us know that sometimes its okay to break social and acceptable customs. Don't live by the book.

Writing and Reading Reflection # 10

           I think Twitter Fiction went really well for me. At first it was actually pretty difficult though. Even though any topic was open to write about...I found that it was hard to choose something to write a story about, that would make sense under 140 characters. Since I chose to write my tweets in very short story form, I felt as if all 30+ tweets had to be completely different...but as I kept writing, I found that I can still make them involve the same topics and make them...unrelated at the same time. It got easier to come up with tweets after that. In my opinion, one of my greatest successes for this assignment came from the tweets that were told through the first person perspective. I tried to make a lot of very personal tweets (to the character) so I thought the writing would be better if I told it exactly as they would write about an experience, thought, or story about their life. In the beginning, I found coming up with fictional tweets extremely frustrating and difficult. In over one week, I only had about 10 tweets...or less. I felt completely uninspired and I had no ideas at all. I thought the tweets I was making were really boring and it discouraged me from continuing. I was trying to make them long and literal. Everything had to be textbook perfect, as if they could be published in a book...and not a very interesting one. Then I started to re-read and look up some of the professional tweets and I found that a lot of them were short, choppy, and not very serious. I believe this influenced a lot of my tweets to come...which leads me to another one of my successes. As mentioned earlier, at first my tweets were long and so literal, none of them were told in the first person perspective and they were so...typical. There was a sappy love story, a serial killer contemplating his next kill, a bitter divorce...they were original stories and yet they all seemed done before. I tried to fill all 140 characters and I think they were almost too long. So, my success came from my tweets that were short and concise...a lot of the stories were told by their character personally. The tweets were quick and cut deep. As a writer, I learned that I apparently like to make a lot of dark and depressing stories. Also, stories that told the truth about life in hidden ways...I began to make tweets where they was no real story line to them, it was just writing about real life, involving a characters life. They were simple and basic, but I think these were my best tweets. As far as publishing my tweets on Twitter...I didn't mind it too much. I already have a personal Twitter account, so I found that it was pretty different. I don't mine people reading my stories, I just wish I had more favourites and retweets than I did! ...Obviously, this assignment was a challenge for me because I have great difficulty getting to the point through my writing...but I think I did a good job at it by the end, hopefully. 
           I read a memoir by Fathome Butterfly and tweets involving gravestone characters by Jennifer Wilson. I read the Fathome Butterfly one because one of my friends recommended it because they found it interesting. I didn't actually like it very much because I found like it was all over the place...and not very structured. Some were actually kind of cool though, especially the pictures she posted, but other than that I wasn't a huge fan. The tweets by Jennifer Wilson were a bit more interesting...but I think the description I read about made it sound better than it was. I thought each separate post she posted would be a story she made up about the person who's name was on the gravestone. However, this was not the case. The tweets were divided into sections and each section was devoted to a specific person. I found it sort of difficult spending Thursdays class reading these Twitter Fiction stories because the tweets by the authors were pretty inconsistent and dispersed, you really had to look for the story. Personal tweets by the author tweeting at someone or advertising their page were mixed in with the stories, so I found this very frustrating and discouraged my from reading further into the story. One thing that surprised me was how many people participate with Twitter Fiction. When I searched the fiction hashtags, there were lots of stories that came up by people and I didn't it was that big of a deal. Also, each writer had a different sort of writing style and they were all pretty unique, I even found this to be the case with our class members stories. I found this very surprising but I really liked reading them. For example, I enjoyed a lot of Sam Deckert's tweets because I found that they were similar to mine in style...and idea choices, so I thought they were pretty cool.
            I don't think this assignment necessarily changed my perspective on Twitter because I already used it before hand with my personal account and I really like it. That being said, this assignment did show me new things about the site that I didn't know existed (the fictional stories) and I thought those were really interesting to read about. I think our next Buried Life unit would be good to tweet about. Even using our twitter accounts to tweets questions about class projects or recommendations about books would be of good use...even tweeting out good things that you have read or watched that you want people to know about. People in our class could really benefit from recommendations from others. 

Here is the site for the photo credit to my background image. I thought it would be nice to change up the look of my page. Although, it's a bit of a contrast to the pink and orange theme it was before, wouldn't you say?

http://www.mirelamarinescu.com/ -A lot of their artwork is actually pretty unique, check it out.

Personal Edition Numero...Take a Wild Guess.

Daughter- Youth Lyrics

Shadows settle on the place, that you left.
Our minds are troubled by the emptiness.
Destroy the middle, it's a waste of time.
From the perfect start to the finish line.

And if you're still breathing, you're the lucky ones.
'Cause most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs.
Setting fire to our insides for fun
Collecting names of the lovers that went wrong
The lovers that went wrong.

We are the reckless, 
We are the wild youth
Chasing visions of our futures
One day we'll reveal the truth
That one will die before he gets there.

And if you're still bleeding, you're the lucky ones.
'Cause most of our feelings, they are dead and they are gone.
We're setting fire to our insides for fun.
Collecting pictures from the flood that wrecked our home, 
It was a flood that wrecked this... 

... and you caused it... 
... and you caused it... 
... and you caused it... 

Well I've lost it all, I'm just a silouhette, 
A lifeless face that you'll soon forget, 
My eyes ae damp from the words you left, 
Ringing in my head, when you broke my chest.
Ringing in my head, when you broke my chest.

And if you're in love, then you are the lucky one, 
'Cause most of us are bitter over someone.
Setting fire to our insides for fun, 
To distract our hearts from ever missing them.
But I'm forever missing him.

And you caused it, 
And you caused it, 
And you caused it


http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/daughter/youth.html

Writing Reflection # 9

                Twitter Fiction...Storyboard

       So far, I have been really slow with this whole twitter fiction project. I come up with a lot of good ideas, but when I go to write them out they either don't sound good or are too long. I wouldn't say that I'm extremely close to being done, maybe a little over halfway. I chose to tell stories in the 140 characters or less, single post options. So each tweet will be different and not relate, in any way, to another one. This is why I'm having a bit of trouble with this. I'm running out of ideas so it's taking me longer to think of interesting ones. I chose to use this style of Twitter Fiction because I thought it would be more...enjoyable to do, so that I don't get bored with the same story and get stuck in a dead end with where the story leads to or ends. Also, like the Six Word Memoirs, I like making meaningful stories/messages using a limited number of words. Make it short, and make it count. These short posts leave a lot of questions and mystery, and room for the reader to think, which I really like so I thought it would be fun to come up with them. As for pictures, I haven't really thought about any that I want to add quite yet...I'm going to wait till I have all my tweets completed on my rough draft and then decide what images I want to tie in. I think that I still need to work on making the tweets a bit cleaning. This means that I have to think about keeping the same initial story I came up with, be tweaking the words around a bit to make them smoother to read. I want to include mystery in them, but not leave enough gaps that it will make it ridiculously frustrating for the reader to understand. One comment I have on this project so far is that...I didn't think it would be this difficult. I thought the stories would just easily come to me. I'm also trying to write outside of the box to make the stories interesting, but I don't think I'm quite there yet. However, I do like this project a lot and thinks its très interessant. I also think it will be pretty cool to read other peoples Twitter Fiction!

Personal Edition Numero...Hmmmmm

Music Musts #2

11. Bon Iver

http://goo.gl/UdtlH

         I...don't know how this happened but in my last "Music Musts" I forgot about Bon Iver. If you listen to this artist, you know some of the most soothing music comes from him. If you're in a bad mood and feel like crying, not saying thats always the best and funnest thing to do, but this is the music you would do that too. I love the songs Towers, Holocene, Skinny Love, and Blood Bank by him. Give them a listen to!

http://boniver.org/

Personal Edition Numero...I Have No Idea.

Personal Edition Numero...Something Spanish...

Reading Reflection #8

Book: Perfect Chemistry

Author: Simone Elkeles

Pages Read: 1-20

Dear Fellow Readers, yep, another book has been started. I never read books like these, teen love stories, so I'm finding it kind of hard to read. It seems like the characters and very stereotypical. A rich cheerleader with blond hair, blue eyes, is very rich, as a convertible, and has the perfect boy friend. Then the next main character is a Latino Blood, kind of poor, is the tough guy at school, rides a motorcycle, with a bad attitude. Oh, but I can't forget, they both feel like they're putting on a mask to the outside world, hiding who they truly are. How unheard of. When I read this book, its almost as if I know what the characters are going to say and do before they do it, its the predictable...but my friend told me that it gets really good, so I'm just curious to read what happens which is why I want to keep reading this book. She also read it in Grade 7...so there is quite the age difference going along with her recommendation...so I guess I'll just have to see what all the talk is about. So, my first prediction I have for this book is that these two characters are going to get together. Surprised? They are from opposite worlds, different sides of town, and there will be a lot of controversy and problems when they get together. They will fall madly in love and maybe one of the characters will die. Since one of the main characters, Alex, is Latino, they use a lot of Spanish words in the book in replace of English words. I know very little Spanish so its kind of difficult to follow at times and I just sort of get the idea of what the word meant from the context that its in. I find the use of these Spanish words interesting because since this book takes place in the U.S.A, a lot of people are accustomed to basic Spanish words, meanwhile in Canada we know french as our second language. It just goes to show the cultural difference between our countries. One aspect of the main characters life that I related to was Brittany's relationship to her mom. For a lot of the time she'd rather be out of the house so she doesn't have to deal with her...and I kind of find myself in the same situation. The moms not abusive at all or really mean for all that matter, just very judgmental and you never know if they're going to be in a good mood or a really bad mood that day...its better to be out of the house. One reference in this book that I found interesting was the in Alex's family, his siblings are mentioned in context as soldiers, such as soldier number one and soldier number two. I really liked this because it is most likely that these kids will become gang members, so I liked the contrast between the two different fighters and the groups they would belong too. Overall, I don't know if I like this book a lot...but I don't think I dislike it either. Since I last read part of this book for this reflection, I am on page 110 and still haven't really made up my mind about it...but we'll see how it goes!

Personal Edition Numero Dieciséis

http://goo.gl/ztIgn

We've all watched as someone starts our day 
off with annoyance as they screw up our cereal. 

Personal Edition Numero Quince

http://truebluemeandyou.tumblr.com/page/8

It's ideas like these that get me excited to try...but I probably never will. 

Writing Reflection #...Black Out Poetry?

          Well, I must say, I'm a big fan of black out poetry...but I also found it surprisingly difficult. First of all, I love incorporating words, messages, and writing into the artwork I do. So thats why I've enjoyed a lot of the assignments we've had to do so far this year, such as the six word memoirs and now the black out poetry. Also, I do a lot of work with newspaper in my artwork so when I found out we were doing black out poetry I was like....yessss. Interestingly enough, I learned this style of writing a long time ago from Ms. Fernie, but she called it "Found Poetry." We also did another technique where we just blacked out most of the article and kept words that particularly stood out to us or have meaning relating to our piece. I find this writing style really unique because...well...there is so much you can do with the general concept of it and everyones final piece is different in their own way. When our class was looking at other kids examples in the hallway, they all looked so interesting and unique. For example, some words came from the main title of an article, so this word was stressed...or they would make connection to join all their words. Some poems were simple, yet powerful and others were long and meaningful. I liked how a lot sounded kind of cryptic and mysterious. With my poems I wrote generally long ones relating to human rights and freedom. This was a topic that I felt very strongly about so it was easy to think of messages I wanted to get out. However, it was not easy AT ALL to actually make the messages make sense and make a poem out of it with the newspaper. There would be one good word like "freedom" or  "imprisonment" that I knew I had to use...so I actually found it really hard to search for words to make a message with. Its almost as if the words find you while you're searching for them...I think that the first poem I made was a bit hard to follow...but my second one got better...and then my last one was the best, in my opinion at least. After the first one, it became harder to make the poems though because I had to consider the theme found in my first poem and make two more poems relating to that. It was as if on the first poem I started with a blank canvas, then the other poems were adding to it, which is always harder. Through this type of writing, I learned that I like the messages, or poems, that I write about to have meaning. I don't want a sappy love story (although I'm not saying those aren't meaningful in their own way)...I mean that I want it to be powerful and have some kind of impact to our lives and gets people thinking about aspects of their own life. Another thing I learnt about myself as a writer is that I am very...perfectionistic (made up the word, I'm just gonna go with it). Around the class, I saw people writing poems like they were texts. Quick and easy to the. I honestly got one poem done in class. It took my so long to find an article with the right words and then to make my message PERFECT. Each poem took a good 3 hours to do...but I really ended up liking the final outcome! Overall, I really like this writing style and I'll probably end up doing it on my own for art or just for fun. 

Personal Edition Numero Catorce

"The Sharp Knife of a Short Life"

Sometimes life is over before it begins. 

One of my cousin's best friends just died tonight in a car accident. Two others are in critical condition in the hospital...they go to Kelvin and are my age. 17...senior year...they said she was a woman. She was a kid. 

It doesn't seem real when a kid dies. It's not supposed to happen. 

Why don't people wear seat belts? Why do we speed when we know its dangerous? Why don't we think?

So, a girl dies. How do we react? We put it in the social media, make Facebook pages in ...respect?

We go to a funeral thats not real. We dress in black, sit in a pew and listen to a preacher who we know isn't telling the truth.

She didn't die. Its impossible. 

I won't die. 

But we do. 

We all do.

Death takes control of our thoughts and makes a mess. 

Reading Reflection #7

Book: They Fight Like Children, They Die Like Soldiers

Author: Romeo Dollaire

Pages Read: 1-17

Dear Fellow Readers, I know I'm probably being really annoying by reading a new book every few weeks without actually finishing the one I was reading before, but I don't really want to waste my time with books I don't like...and sometimes they're really hard to keep track of....meaning, I lose them all. A couple of years ago I saw this book in Costco and read a bit about it because the title kind of took my attention. It sounded really interesting but I probably already had my cart loaded with a bunch of stuff I didn't need, like what happens with most Costco trips, (for example, a stack of mile long Christmas wrap which was probably more appealing) so I didn't want to ask for another item. So, straying a way from the book for a minute, for the past couple of weeks in Just Cause, we have been doing a campaign called "Children Not Soldiers" which would help raise money for an organization called "War Child" that helps with rehabilitation of child soldiers and communities. I've been participating in this and selling buttons in support...but I honestly don't know much about it at all. When I saw this book it sort of made sense to me to read it because...well...I think its important to know whats going on in our world and this is an issue that I feel very strongly about. I'm sorry if this reflection is a bit of a rant, but the book isn't really a book...it's almost a reflection of events too in a way. I've only read the introduction so its a lot of facts and other information...but it really gets you thinking and kind of makes your blood boil and stomach flutter, if that makes sense. At one point, they put you in the shoes of a child soldier and say "imagine yourself on a hill..." and at another point they try and get you to picture yourself as the adult soldier facing, shooting at, and killing a child soldier. Both seem like an awful position to be in...but its reality. Is one better than the other? I don't know...One thing I found really interesting about this example was when the author asked the reader if, being in the position of a grown soldier fighting against kids, do we treat them as soldiers of as children?

"Do you treat this person aiming his weapon at you as a soldier or a child? If you do nothing, dozens will be slaughtered and you put your own life at risk. If you fire to frighten or disarm, you begin a doomed and bloody shootout. Fire back to kill, as you would at an adult, and you will save a village, but at what cost?"

The reason I really liked why the author chose to add this statement was because it clearly lays out all the options. Right at the beginning of the book, we are able to gain perspective on the grown soldier killing a kid...or a soldier. Another comment I have about what I have read so far was about my reaction to the comparison of children to a "weapon of choice". It shows that in countries overseas, children are expendable. They aren't people, they're objects and machinery. This made me reflect on how our society generally looks at child soldiers...they exist, they're far away, but it almost seems as though we don't think of them as people either. They're soldiers and nothing else. Also, the author spoke about how girls and boys are taken from their family and forced into this war like behaviour and the girls are even abused. I can't imagine being taken away from the life I know to participate in such bloody acts, live an unfamiliar and abusive life, and literally have my childhood crushed. This reading reflection was not as formal as my others have been...but thats also because this isn't really a book, it's an eye opening account of real life events. It just gets my mind thinking while reading it and all I want to do is find a way to help...Honestly, I could probably go on and on about this subject, so I'll leave it for now. However, you'll most likely see a lot more personal additions on the subject matter of child soldiers and other injustices or humanitarian work in the world. 

Black Out Poetry

My Final Piece...

Black Out Poetry Continued...

Poem #1: Is It...Serious?

Black Out Poetry Continued...

Poem #1: A Battle of Rights

Black Out Poetry Continued...

Poem #3: Peace, For Some...

Personal Edition Numero Trece

Musique Musts #1

          It finally just hit me that I can add music related stuff on my blog...so, that's rather exciting I would say. For anyone who wants to hear some great music, I would definitely recommend reading these posts! To start with, I'm going to ramble on about some of my favourite bands, artists, songs, etc. Enjoy!

1. The Beatles

http://theearlybeatles.blogspot.ca/

It just had to be my first choice...need I say more?

http://www.thebeatles.com/

2. Mumford & Sons

http://www.mumfordandsons.com/

            These guys have to be one of my favourite bands. Their first CD, Sigh No More, is one of the only CD's I can listen to fully, enjoying each song. Their new album, Babel, is just as great. Listening to them, you can hear the passion in their voices and playing so much that its almost chilling to listen to. When these guys come to Canada, I will most definitely be going. No questions asked. Some of my favourite songs my them include White Blank Page, Winter Winds, Dust Bowl Dance, Holland Road, Hopeless Wanderer, Broken Crown, Babel, Below My Feet, and their cover of Simon and Garfunkle's song The Boxer is actually amazing. 

http://www.mumfordandsons.com/

3. Of Monsters and Men

http://goo.gl/ThxsA

          An amazing band from Iceland! Some of my favourite songs include Dirty Paws, Little Talks, Mountain Sound, Your Bones and King and Lionheart.  

http://www.ofmonstersandmen.is/

4. The Wooden Sky

http://goo.gl/jQKt2

          Not many people know about this band...but for any Winnipeggers reading, assuming most people around the world are wanting to read my blog, they're coming to the West End Cultural Centre on November 28th 2012. Some of my favourite songs by them include This Bird Has Flown, Child of the Valley, The Wooden Sky, and When We Were Young. 

http://thewoodenskymusic.com/

5. The Cat Empire

http://goo.gl/722ux

           A lot of the songs by this group makes you feel like you're in some tropical country listening to music on the beach. Songs to listen to include Rhyme and Reason, Lullaby, Protons Neutrons Electrons, and The Lost Song. 

http://www.thecatempire.com/

6. The Black Keys

http://goo.gl/FB4mh

            You gotta love The Black Keys. Some great songs include Tighten Up, Howlin' For You, Little Black Submarines, and Sinister Kid. 

http://www.theblackkeys.com/

7. City and Colour

http://goo.gl/9d2A4

         City and Colour, (Dallas Green- How clever!) is from Canada and is amazing! Most of their songs are soothing and just make your mother forced you into guitar lessons when you were younger. Check out the songs Confessions, Fragile Bird, Sleeping Sickness, Hello I'm in Delaware, and Sensible Heart. 

http://cityandcolour.ca/

8. Gregory Alan Isakov

http://goo.gl/b7lrv

This guys music actually makes your jaw drop. It's almost a singer that you don't want to tell people about, and just want to keep all to yourself. The music just connects to you and honestly, I can't really explain why. You will do yourself a favour if you listen to That Moon Song, Big Black Car, Evelyn, and Dandelion Wine. 

http://gregoryalanisakov.com/

9. The Fray

http://goo.gl/m0DAp

Who doesn't love the fray? Their music is absolutely beautiful and sang very passionately. Listen to the songs Over My Hear, Be Still, You Found Me, Where The Story Ends, Never Say Never, Syndicate, and How to Save a Life.

http://www.thefray.com/ca

10. Brandi Carlile

http://goo.gl/5REbe

         This singer has such an amazing and unique voice. I really love the songs The Story and Hiding My Heart Away. She also does a great cover of Hallelujah.

Weekly Reflection #6

Question #1

          I find this question very difficult to answer for a few reasons. The first is because...I have no idea what I want to do after high school. I know I for sure I want to go to university at some point, I'm just not entirely sure what I want to pursue as a career. I feel like I'm being pulled in so many directions. I should pursue the arts, but I'm really good in science. I should study business, but I would rather do humanitarian work. After high school I was also thinking of helping out overseas in some sort of program, like with Hope Development. The second reason I find this question rather diffucult to answer is becuase I honestly don't know if my blog is the best representation of myself. I don't mean that its unprofessional or that it shows a bad side of me, I just mean I don't think the little things I blog about or reflect on are really of great importance to a lot of the things I plan on doing after high school. Are my posts about my opinion on Lord of the Flies or my personal edition on me ranting about changes in my life really that significant? I don't know, maybe they are. For my entire life I've always worked incredibly hard in school so that my marks will help me get where I want to be after high school, so its just hard for me to think about something else that shows a side of me, other than the numbers I present, that reflect what kind of person I am. As of now, the best way I can think of using my blog to help acheive my goals after high school is to post things that relate to what things I want to do after high school to show my interests. I hope the blog will act as a resume for me that shows my personality, and not just my accomplishments.

Question #2

Comment #1
http://taylorperistyblog.blogspot.ca/2012/10/life-big-question-1.html#comment-form

Comment #2

http://www.samscreativethoughts.blogspot.ca/2012/10/ismy-attempt-at-drawing-pac-man-it.html#comment-form

Comment #3

http://jcreativewriting.blogspot.ca/2012/10/this-is-picture-of-my-aunt-and-uncle.html#comment-form

Question #3

            The first comment I left was on Tay's blog on a post about life's big question about truth. I left this comment because the post intrigued me a lot because not many people are able to actually sit down and write about such a big question for personal reasons. The second post I made was on Sam's blog. He made a visual of a pacman game and although it wasn't the best, I found it really interesting. He talked about how bad it was, which made me curious as to why he would post this. The third comment I made was on Jordan's blog one of her six word memoirs. This memoir stood out to me a lot and made me question whether there are good people in the world, and that we have to keep reassuring ourselves that we are in fact good people. Characteristics of a good comment include being helpful and insightful. You don't want to completely discourage the person from posting what interests them, so positive constructive comments help a lot! Like the comments we left today, it's great to start a conversation over a post that really gets the blogger thinking and reflecting on what they wrote. New perspectives are very important. This being said, a bad comment is something that is in fact unhelpful and pointless. For example, telling someone that they could flat out do better would be a bad comment. Its not constructive, its just criticism. Instead, they could say that a challenge would be good and how they could meet that challenge. Some benefits of commenting on other peoples blogs is that you get to, hopefully, contribute to their writing in the future and you can also acquire ideas of your own for your blog. You also get to start a conversation with someone you don't talk to much based on similar interests, so in a way, friendships are made. Some benefits of receiving comments on my blog is...well...they're awesome. It makes a blogger feel great when they get a comment because it shows that people took the time to look at their work and appreciate what they've posted, which means a lot! I know that for me, comments are almost like a challenge: they get you to think differently and reconsider the content of your post. 

           

Greit's iPhone

(Reading from left to right)

1. iBible: Greit uses this app to stay in touch with her Protestant religion while she stays with the Catholic family. The bible will distract her from their religion. 

2. Candlelight Saviour: This app will allow Greit to see in the darkness of the cellar where she sleeps. She does not want to waste candles, so this app will come in handy.

3. Clean Sweep: Greit will use this app for cleaning and house keeping suggestions and hints. Since she is supposed to do a lot of the housework, this will act sort of like a handbook to her telling her the proper way to clean the house. 

4. FamCam: Greit can only see her family one a week and she is very lonely at her new residence so she will use this app to stay in touch with her family back at home. 

5. Count To Ten: Greit has a bit of a quick temper and does not always think before she acts. This app will help her count to ten and calm herself down before she acts impulsively. 

6. iOCD: Greit is sort of OCD so this app is an anonymous chatroom for people suffering with OCD. Greit can talk to other people with OCD and they can help her and let her know she is not alone. This app also provides support on how to deal with this problem in a healthy way. 

7. Art Attack: Greit is working for a painter by cleaning his studio. However, she does not know a lot about art and there is tonnes of artwork around the house. Now, using this app, she can snap a picture of any piece of art and it will detect the history behind it (artist, time period, meaning, etc) so Greit is able to learn more about the artwork she is surrounded by. 

8. Stone Map: With this map, Greit can find her way around the new area she lives in. Whenever her employers ask her to go run an errand, she will know exactly where to go on the cobblestone streets using this app. 

9. Creeper: This is a self defence app for Greit that will teach her how to handle situations where she finds herself confronted with a creepy man who just doesn't get the point that she is not interested. This app will help with giving her instructions on what to say, and even helping her learn self defence moves if the situation escalates. 

10. iSleep Sound: Greit will use this app to play soft, soothing sounds at night so she will be able to sleep soundly. At her new house, she is having a lot of trouble sleeping through the night because the environment is so different.

Greit's iPhone Case

         Since I am not that far into the book, I don't know a lot about Greit's personality and interests, or at least not enough to know how to create an accurate visual representation. However, one thing I do know about her is that she was pulled out of the life she knew and was comfortable with and is now put into a new lifestyle that she is so unfamiliar with. The colour on the left side of the case represents her old life. Everything is interwoven and bright to her. The black side on the right represents the life she now has to live, which she knows nothing about. Everything is new to her, scary and she has trouble finding herself.