A Reflection...

This semester I think that I was able to improve my writing skills in a number of ways. The revision process was stressed in this class, and that was a good way to force me to re-think and rewrite my papers. I obviously had to revise papers in the past but have noticed I now have better techniques for revision. This class also stressed the incorporation of different research in papers. I liked how we learned to incorporate the research smoothly, not so the papers sounds like a news report or something. The short stories we had to read were interesting, and the way the stories were assigned to us helped me write better papers.
Possibly the biggest issue I have when writing is being able to have the reader think exactly how I want them to. I think many writers have this issue of trying to tell a story a certain way and the reader reading something totally different. I worked on this skill this semester and, although still having trouble with it a little bit, I feel that i am starting to be able to make what i am saying in a story clearer for the reader. I still feel I need to work on the use of dialogue in a paper, pretty much all concepts of dialogue use. I don't use dialogue much and have noticed that it is a way for a writer to paint a better picture for a reader.
Although I still have some issues with writing, I feel that this class has helped me smooth some things out with my writing that I really didn't know how to do before. And the kids in the class were all very helpful as well.

Smashing Pumpkins

I woke up Sunday and walked outside and noticed that my roommates nice pumpkin he spent a lot of time carving..smashed. to tell you the truth, it was a quite depressing scene to see, I liked that pumpkin. I then look all the way up and down Clyaton Avenue and see smashed pumpkins in front of almost every house. Why would someone do this? It can not possibly be to impress someone, I don't know many girls who would fall head over heals for some dude who wrecks pumpkins while walking her home from the bar. (yes i do think it was a guy because girls usually don't think it's funny to walk around and smash things...) If it was a girl, i'd like to meet her... It just makes me wonder why people have to act like this..I know people get drunk and do stupid things, but it seems like iif you leave something out on your porch over the weekend, you are going to find it smashed or all together stolen. We had a few chairs out on the porch a few weeks ago and we walked to class the next day and found them scattered on the street. I have walked back from the bars many times with my friends and can honestly say we have never stolen or smashed someone elses property. I suppose these kids were just drunk and decided they had a problem with every pumpkin on every porch on Clayton. This happened a week ago and the pumpkin stuff is still in the road rotting away, its just awesome to walk to and from class and step in it everyday. I probably should just go out there and clean it up but if I did that I'd have nothing to complain about so I'll let it rot away and get mad everytime i walk in it untill it washes away. Would anyone else go clean a rotting pumpkin off a public road? I doubt it.

Bye Bye Yamaha

My friends and I wait all winter for the temperatures to warm up and the rains to come to clean the roads off. Over the winter tons of salt is put all over the road to clear the ice and snow, but this stuff stays on the road and makes it extremely dangerous for motorcyclists who go out early. The sand and salt needs to be washed off the road, because taking a turn at good speed on sand means one thing.....roadrash. After the rain comes and washes the roads its time to dust off the bikes and make your neighbors happy they live next door when you scream past their house all the time. But this time of year is a sad time, the weather is starting to turn cold and bikes are disappearing from the streets. I got into a heated discussion with a friend of mine about how to properly store a bike for the winter...it seems he has zero knowledge of how to store his Suzuki, and if he does not listen he will be seeing some pricey mechanic costs in the spring. He refuses to admit that if a bike sits in a garage for months with any fuel in its system water will get in the lines, freeze up and destroy critical fuel system components. I personally don't even leave fuel , or any type of liquids in my bike over the winter I drain my bike 100% because 2 years ago I had the same issue my friend will see in the spring. The fuel lines froze, ruptured and I had a 400 dollar mechanic bill to pay for, I was less than happy. this is the case with any type of "toy" you own, my friend Chad works at a marine supply store and he knows you gotta take care of your stuff or you'll be paying for it later on. Anyways, the yamaha is soon to be drained and put on rack for the winter, another year in the books. Now i'm just curious as to how much money he's going to have to spend this spring to get his bike up and running while mine starts the first time i put the key in it.

Halloween

This year Halloweens on a weekday,Wednesday, and I think a lot of college students will be missing their early classes on Thursday, or maybe calling it a weekend Wednesday night and not even going at all. Every class I am in I hear kids asking each other back and forth what they will be doing to celebrate. Theres a ton of house parties that I know of and I have also recieved about ten invitations for bar parties (you know, you pay twenty bucks and go down to the bar and drink continuously for three hours, then everyone gets thrown out..) It seems funny to me now that I am in college because when I've talked to my friends at home.. no one is doing anything at all, and everyone at school is planning on having big parties. Every time a holiday comes around at school kids have a reason to go out and party all night, which is fine with me, I just think my friends at home who chose to stay around Watertown are missing out somewhat. Its nice though because, even though they haven't come up this year, they had a good time last year when they came up. Anyway, me and my roommates are pretty excited about Halloween cause we were thinking about havin a party at the house, we even bought some candy because theres some little kids up the street who may come around trick or treating, theyre parents surely wouldn't be happy if we put a Keystone or Busch in their bags so we're helping everyone out this year. I really dont know what is worse, a little kid all buzzed out on sugar or a college kid all drunk...Anyways, I was just wondering what everyone else had planned for Halloween, because I'm positive everyones heard of a party, or maybe even having one...

golf accident research

the upcoming paper we are doing opened my eyes to how many people get hurt, playing a sport that looked at possibly as one of the most relaxed sports: golf. this paper is research integrated, so i decided to write about my friend Adam who got demolished by a golf ball right in front of me. he took a direct hit to the neck, and we were all laughing about it but it can be a serious thing, and to my surprise it happens more than you would think. i looked for research and found an article on CNN describing what can happen to someone who gets hit by a golf ball, and also how frequently it happens. the report said over 300, 000 people have reported a golf injury in the last few years. this isnt all from being hit though, many people that play frequently swing a club wrong, and after many times develop problems with the muscle, causing huge problems for the rest of their life. many times people who are hit in the head try and ignore their problem but this can lead to devastating consequences down the road, paralysis and even death sometimes. My grandfather used to play golf but got shoulder trouble, although i dont know if it was golf related but it may have been now that i have done this research for our upcoming paper. i find it really hard to believe that over a quarter million people have been hurt by the game of golf. i asked a few people , including my dad , about how many people they thought got hurt on the golf course every year and the highest number i got was around 15 thousand. i do know one thing for sure, my buddy Adam definately was a statistic when it comes to getting hurt on a golf course.

downtown mug clubs

this is a blog that im sure everyone knows about. My friends and i live close to the bars downtown and, not a proud thing but, we have been to every place in cortland im sure. this year i have taken notice to all the bars doing a special promotion thinig called a "mug club." for people who dont know what the mug clubs at these bars are..here it is.. you pay 20 or 25 bucks at the beginning of the semester and get a mug with a number on it, this is your mug for the rest of the semester. after you get the mug you get special prices on beers at respective bar you have a mug at. i dont know every bars mug club specials but i do knnow Woodys mug club. Its 20 bucks to start and after you get a mug you pay a dollar for rolling rocks and 2 dollars for everyhting else, at the end of the semester i think you can keep the mug and you also get a t-shirt from woodys bar. i did it pretty much for dollar beers and i'll wear the shirt at the end of the semester i guess.. it also saves you money because a bottle of beer is anywhere around three and four dollars and you only get twelve ounces, where i can get a 16 ounce pint of rolling rock for a dollar. this is a college kids dream right? more beer for less money. Anyways, i have noticed these mug clubs at just about every bar i have been to (i guess a good promotion thinig like this catches on quick with college kids), and was just wondering if anyone had a mug from a different bar and what the deal was with the mug at that bar...let me know im curious..

stanley cup destroyed in cortland

this is a follow up to a previous blog i wrote about my friend creating a stanley cup replica out of hundreds of tins. this was a nice replica and my roommates and me were all excited because we had a bet where we each picked a team on the east coast and what ever team did the best at the end of the season, that person got to have the cup till the next season. I chose tampa bay lightning, because as said before i needed to choose a east coast team...im a calgary flames fan to be honest.. (easy on the comments about me being a fan of Calgary, im sure i've heard it already..) My roommate, and sports fanatic who is in this class, chad, has the islanders because hes a lifetime fan of them. My other roommate is a fan of the sabres and i forget now who the others have as their teams. So getting to the point here, when i left thursday lord stanley was doing great sitting in his spot in the corner of our living room lookin great. When i returned to my house sunday afternoon the base was still there that stanley sat on, but stanley was gone. i was absolutely shocked and couldnt believe that someone either had stolen stanley, or even worse it got destroyed. i knew most likely it got destroyed because we frequently are throwinig a football, baseball, tennisball, or some other object at each other in our living room...it can be a dangerous place. i asked my roommate mike who created it with hours of work, and he said he accidentally ran into it or something like that and destroyed it. so everyone can rest easy, we saved the tins and lord stanley will be re created once again this time stronger and tougher than ever.