End of the Year: Final Rant

So year's coming to a close… It sucks. Worst part about school year ending is having to go home. I love having a family and home cooked meal but home just doesn't compare to college. Let's face it the food you're getting at home can't compare to the variety of food offered here at tech, especially the West End two dollar London broil (YUM!). The friends at home are great but it's just weird having to maintain, what seem to be two different groups of friends, according to what season you're in. The rules of being home suck too. Having my mother tell me that I need to make a bed or do the dishes only pours salt in the wound. College life entails not having to make your bed, vacuum, wash dishes, and do laundry, on command from an authority figure but rather on personal convenience. Parties are not always readily available at home either. Raging on a Tuesday night at your local apartment complex or in a bedroom located above the neighborhood church is NEVER an option at home, at least to me. If you did manage to go to a party, there is no drunk bus to drive your sorry ass back home after you did get wasted anyhow. I'm just saying freshman year of college ending is a sad note. It's almost indicative of me leaving true youth behind, which I noted in a previous blog entry, blows big time. Hopefully the next 4 years will be a little bit longer so I can more thoroughly enjoy them. On a better note, this is most likely going to be the last blog I ever write. I'm not exactly happy about no more blogging but rather happy about not having a weekly assignment to do. Blogging definitely kicks the shit out of having to write formal reports or anything of that sort, but having a weekly assignment just annoyed me a little. Can't say much to why it bugged me but I'm just lazy enough to not want to any work whatsoever. When I look back at the concept of blogging for Julia's class next year when I'll have more serious and formal writing assignments, I'll envy what I had. Well the last blog is doneskis so just wanted to thank you for reading what I've had to banter about to this point. Peace.

Things I Could Be Doing Instead of Writing This Blog

I'm just gunna write a bunch of words to get credit for a blog this week.

Eating a sandwich

Making a Sandwich

Dunking a Donut

Sleeping

Dreaming while Sleeping

Doing other work

Trying to find a summer job

Cleaning up my room

Doing a ton of laundry

Walking to the tobacco store

Walking in general

Getting a slurpie at 7-11

Working over a resume

Studying

Writing the assignment 4 memoir which is due for me in about 20 hours

Drinking recently purchased kool-aid

OHHH YEAHHH!

Listening to red hot chili peppers album I got off torrents

Getting more albums off of torrents

Sleeping again

Munching on a burrito

Playing Video Games

Crunkin to Young Jeezy

That's about all I can think of right now.

 

I used this as an experiment to see what was on my mind over a 5 min span, analyze it, and try to create a logical thought process out of it. From what I can see visually my mind is mostly focused around food. This makes sense considering I was really hungry. Most of the stuff that I stated was stuff I could either see or hear. I was working in the dark, at my desk which is located under my bed. I was also exhausted. These could be the reasons why I mentioned sleep multiple times. Then I started a to-do list which could've reminded me about other work to do, especially the English memoir. My laundry was overflowing, therefore l was thinking about doing it. I can't really put any reasoning behind wanting to go walking, considering I'm normally very lazy. I happened to pound about 3 or 4 glasses of kool-aid which obviously explains the specific choice of that beverage. ITunes shuffle probably explains the talk of music especially since I just recently obtained Red Hot Chili Peppers' and Young Jeezy's Discographies. My roommate playing Xbox was the reason why I brought up video games.

 

Reason for even doing thisà you now understand 5 minutes of the most obscure thought process ever… MINE!

 

 

Growing Up Sucks…

I realized the other day that freshman year for me is almost over. It was a moment that seemed to blow my mind. Think back to the start of your college career. Think back to your first semester it was a while ago, but it seemed like the blink of an eye. Don't get me wrong growing up is cool with the ability to drink, smoke, make your own decisions, and have complete freedom from any authoritative figures, but I scared of having that freedom. I don't ever want to pay the bills, or have a 9-5 desk job. These are consequences of having unlimited freedom. This just supports the reason that college is the best time of one's life. You have that freedom, where you are basically allowed to do whatever the hell you want when you want to. There's no have-to's or need-to's. Even if you live in the dorms and never go out, there's nobody to tell you that you need to do laundry by a certain time, or that you have to make your bed, or you have to get up and eat breakfast. ONCE a semester Resident Advisors, or RA's, will pass and will make you clean your room if it's a complete shit-show, but then again it's ONCE a semester. That's like your parents or whoever you lived with as a kid telling you that you need to clean your room once in March and Once in October; What a joke! Imagine if you treated the real world like you did college. Unlike college where you skip a class and at most you lose attendance, the real world will slap you with a salary loss or even the loss of your job. If you got kicked out of college for missing classes I guarantee that people might not cut class so much, or at all for that matter. If you went out Tuesday night in college and got smashed and you went to class the next day your professor might not notice, especially if it was a lecture, but if you went and got drunk before work the next day you could be in some deep trouble. You definitely DO NOT need future employers getting information from references that you frequently show up to work drunk. All I'm trying to say is that growing up is the worst thing to happen to anyone in their lifetime. Love college life while you still can!!!

The Rant from Hell

Writing is extremely entertaining, IF it pertains to anything interesting and important to its creator. This assignment is a whole lot of nothing that I'm supposed to spit out onto a page and "submit". Submission doesn't mean anything to me except a grade. What happened to the time when writing meant something? When did it turn to minimum word counts and grammatical proficiency? When did writing stop coming from the heart and start coming from the endurance of a wrist. Why did it take this turn? Writing where has you gone and why can't anyone find you?

It's people like Julia Tillinghast-Akalin who make writing a repetitive task rather than a creative experience. Julia is a dictator rules over her oppressed students whom follow seeking a good grade rather experience writing personal and interesting memoirs. She has oppressed our people for the last time! Revolt I say, to the students from whom Julia demands perfection, to the students who have a heavy workload every Monday night and can't get their blogs up in time, to the students who go to bed early and wake up later and can't comment on other blogs in time, to the students who have 89's rather than the necessary 88 to do rewrites, to the students who could give two shits about the rules for structuring a conversation, and finally to the students who hate the concept of writing to begin with. Her reign as ENGL 1106 teacher is over! From now on I suggest a new set of rules that will run the classroom.

• Anyone can submit a Blog on a day convenient to them.
  
• Anyone can do a rewrite if they want to!
  
• Anyone can comment on Blogs within 1 week after they have been posted.
  
• Anyone can talk however they want, without structuring of the conversation.
  
• Anyone who doesn't want to write doesn't have to; you'll just get a C+.
  

These changes are a means to an end of the Julia Tillinghast-Akalin regime. These changes will bring order to a system which is obviously in disarray. Hopefully, these changes will make a positive impact on the disgrace that is English 1106.

The Three Stages

Let me start this blog with the theory of the three stages of settling on women was cofounded by me and a few colleagues of mine. I personally don't buy into all of the concepts of the theory but for the most part, my personal experiences with women have reflected positively on the theory of the stages. Also, I don't mean to demean women or men in relationships who disagree with

Every guy wants that "perfect" girl. Unfortunately in today's day in age, the fast paced lifestyle and difficulty maintaining consistency in relationships forces men to take what they can get, when they can get it. However this doesn't mean men "whore" themselves to any girl. We have standards and certain expectations from women we are interested in. The theory of "The Three Stages" describes how men value different certain standards above other based upon maturity, normally gained through age, but possibly gained through experience.

There are tons of characteristics of women that men are attracted too. The "Three Stages" generalizes these characteristic into 3 simple categories. The "Hot" category covers characteristics of women such as, general attractiveness, facial beauty, body type, and the obvious attraction to a girl's "assets". The second category is the "Fun" category. "Fun" includes good dancing, drinking, and possible hook-ups and other "relations". The third and final category is "Personality". Obviously this category pertains to the ability to have a conversation, manners, and sociability with friends and family.

Stage 1

My research indicates stage 1 primarily exists in men ages 15-19. Stage one pertains to boys who are normally very immature in terms of relationship experience. These boys are basically concerned with finding the hottest women that they can get their hands on, just to be able to brag about it. If the woman is a good dancer they're even happier but they're most concerned with how good looking she is. The fact that these boys are inexperienced in terms of relationships shows and it's rather obvious they don't know how to value personality and therefore they could care less about it.

The Final Rankings for Stage 1

1. Hot
   
2. Fun
   
3. Personality
   

Stage 2

Stage two overlaps age groups with stage 1. Stage 2 begins at age 18 and concludes around age 26. Men in stage 2 are normally college students whom are less interested relationships and more interested in "hooking up". Hooking up is a key component of the "Fun" category and therefore "Fun" tops the list of the Stage 2'ers. Stage 2's would also prefer that the girl they are hooking up with is hot, but often alcohol inhibits "good" perception of women. The case with hooking up is generally the two people hooking up have nothing more than a physical attraction to one another.

The Final Rankings for Stage 2

1. Fun
   
2. Hot
   
3. Personality
   

Stage 3

Stage 3 is heavily based upon the fact that men in this stage are looking for long term spouses. These men have probably experienced their fair share of relationships, are very experienced, and know what they want out of a spouse. Men in this bracket are normally 24+. They highly value a strong personality because they in fact are looking for someone to spend the rest of their life with. They also want their spouse to be a fun filled, loving person. Sociability with family and friends is held highly by men in stage 3. They are least concerned with how attractive their spouse is, but having a hot wife is always a plus J.

The Final Rankings for Stage 3

1. Personality
   
2. Fun
   
3. Hot
   

 

 

 

Meaning of Life

What is the meaning of life? Everyone surely asks themselves this question at some point in time but is there real answer to it? The meaning of life varies often between the people who would be curious as to what his/her purpose of living is. A common answer to the question is "The meaning of life is the achievement of success." I have problems with this answer. The answer is extremely vague and poses more questions. These questions are led by the definition of success and what is it? Some could say success could be defined as the acquisition of monetary or materialistic goods. Some might say that success could be having a family and many friends. Others might say success might be defined as the work one has done to improve others lives as much as they have helped themselves. I don't believe that success is the meaning of life. I also think that there is a meaning of life for you naysayers out there who are deniers of a meaning of life. I think that the meaning of life is to do the following: ENJOY IT! Life is a time span from birth to death. If people could live forever life would lose its purpose. However, due to the fact that people die after short periods of time we need to celebrate the time we are alive. Don't worry, be happy and Carpe Diem. Have you ever wished you had done something but then thought of the possible risks involved and backed off, and then later regret a decision made without gusto? Emiliano Zapata once said, "It's better to die upon your feet than to live upon your knees!" Emiliano hit the nail on the head. If you have work or the opportunity to fulfill a life's goal, which would you choose? I'd go straight for the life goal. The opportunity may never present itself again, so jump on it and live your life to the fullest. Live life with no regrets, have fun, do what you like and like what you do, because the clock is ticking and sooner or later your time will come and you don't want to look back at your life and say "What if?"

My Troubles with Bureaucracy of Virginia Tech

Virginia tech has always treated me well. Sports are a priority here and the hokie athletic programs fail to disappoint. The food is tops in the nation and West End will be dearly missed after my graduation. The students are friendly and we represent this campus very well. The one problem that I have with Virginia Tech is the bureaucracy. The steps one has to go through to accomplish anything meaning at this university are absolutely ridiculous. I personally have HAD IT with this garbage that Tech calls policy.

I wanted to change majors into the college of business, Pamplin College, here at Virginia Tech. I went to my advisor, who works for the Engineering Education section of the college of engineering, early in the fall semester after I knew I wanted to change majors. I went into his office based with the question of, "What classes should I take in order to be in good standing with Pamplin?" He responded with an unhelpful answer of, "Check Pamplin's website." I checked the website but was unable to find the information that I needed. I then went to the Pamplin college undergraduate advisors' office in order to seek answers about my questions. I went into the office filled out an appointment form and was able to see an advisor. The advisor gave me adequate answers until… a higher ranking Pamplin official burst into the office. She went on a long rant which included information such as, "You can't be here because you're an engineering student… go get answers from your own advisor… and check the website for answers." I told her that I went to the website but was unable to acquire the information I needed. I also told her that I went to my advisor and was still clueless but she cut me off before an explanation and told me to vacate the office as soon as possible. I had to swallow the words I would have told the lady, because if I stated them I'd probably face charges of verbal assault. I asked the advisor who I was seeing for some final info which she squeezed onto a Post-It note. I thankfully got enough information from the advisor to squeak by for the spring course requests. I again went to my advisor for information on how to handle this situation better and he told me to see them. I told him the situation and he told me he didn't know how to handle the predicament. I also asked him about going into University Studies to get more accurate and helpful advisory but unfortunately, I am an active member in the society of engineers at Virginia Tech called the Galileo Program. Galileo's policy does not include any details surrounding the idea of changing majors for first year students. I happened to HATE engineering here at Virginia Tech and wanted to change my major before I got far into my educational career (before sophomore year). I asked him if a change to US was possible but if I did I would be EVICTED from my dorm. One phrase can only describe my emotion, "WHAT THE FUCK!" I'm either eligible to keep my dorm but stay in a major that I despise, or I can opt to move with 8 weeks left in the semester and attempt to get into a major I'm not 100% sure I can get into based upon the courses I've taken because of poor advisement. Life sucks. I'm still trying to find a possible 'out' of this terrible policy pickle. To be honest I needed a muzzle while writing this blog because I would've gone Jerry Springer on this thing. I've had a great time this semester with all classes and my extracurriculars and the lone stress causer is the damn bureaucracy and shitty policies. If you have any advice on how to handle this situation please comment or talk to me because course request is soon and I'm almost "Sol."

Flarf!!!

"Why do men have nipples?"

Why do men have nipples? Because it doesn't do a man any harm to have
nipples, there is no reason why this would change. Brace yourselves for a low blow, tough guy. Hit the "Thanks Button" on lower right hand side.

The distinguishing features of mammals, from whales to mice, are two: having hair and suckling their offspring. Is There a Doctor in the House?

Why do men have nipples? And why do I have to download a patch to fix them? :) Do they even have holes in them?

Why did Chris brown beat up rihanna? Why is my poop green? I love to have someone do some kinky thing like fuck a pillow?

"Hit the snooze button"

How often do you hit the snooze button on you alarm clock in the morning? I hate the snooze button. I swear, it's every day with this dude. Consider super gluing your snooze button in order to make it impossible to use. Sometimes I hit the wrong button. America hit the Snooze Button once more.

Welcome to the official Facebook Page of Hit The "Snooze Button" Atleast 5 Times Before Getting Out Of Bed.

Oooh, I made a biiiig mistake last night. Not now Lord, call me again -- a little bit later. 15 extra minutes in the morning can make a big difference in your life. Hit the mega-snooze button and skipped that run. I'll grab a quick cig if I'm lucky and scramble getting ready for work.

"Trippin Balls"

The highest level of tripping. Completely freaking out. Continuous hallucinations and voices. Listen to trippin balls radio. Listen to and buy Bumpin' Tacos music on CD Baby. Love or hate Pokémon, this shirt is awesome!

Optimus Rhyme! Bitch be trippin Balls, yo! True genius has yet to be fully realized. Cocktails first, Kickball Later! I was out in Joshua Tree. People that have non-human souls. Team Rocket attempts to steal Pikachu once again, but this time, Ash has had enough. Combing the internet with a fine tooth comb. Told everyone in there fish were tryin to eat his brains. My girlfriend started to have sex with me, riding me in the dentist chair! I end up trippin' balls all afternoon, killing myself. Yea dude one time I was trying to get fucked on caps and it wasn't working so I stuck them up my asshole and I swear I was trippin balls. Also many people say that my asshole was on acid once and it was trippin. The dog (bear) jumped on the table while we were eating and two of my mom's friends took a picture with the flash on. Bitch be trippin Balls, yo!

Worst Blog Ever Fo Sho

Setting: A neighborhood where the power has inexplicably gone out

Detail: a skateboard whose underside is emblazoned with the image of the risen Christ

Character: a woman who has bad road rage

Passion of the Christ: Time 2 Shred

A small town in Nowhere, Kansas has lost power and it was up to the Son of God himself to save the day. Nowhere was a town that ran completely on electricity and without power no automobiles could run. Christ snapped his fingers and instantly obtained the most holy skateboard man ever saw; a skateboard whose underside is emblazoned with the image of the risen Christ. Christ shred his way through the town in the black of night. He was nearing the town's power plant when he noticed two car lights in the distance. He approached rapidly looking to gain some assistance. Unfortunately for the Son of God, the car had a woman driver! Not only was the woman driver female (terrible) but she had a bad case of road rage and was JEWISH! The woman, with her lead foot attempted to plow over the Son of God. However, Jesus ollied before the car could hit him, kick-flipped off the hood of the car, and mctwisted over the body of the chassis. The woman was awe struck but she needed to keep up her mission of keeping Nowhere, KS. powerless. She proceeded to chase after Christ. He continued to bust out crazy trick moves and grinds. He rode a power line for a quarter mile in order to stay above the road. The power line was cut by a ninja star thrown by the woman in the car. Jesus ollied off the power line into the most amazingly, perfect, holy trick ever. He triple kick-flipped into a 2 second hold of a benihana into a double front flip with a 2160 rotation. (JESUS FTW!) The woman was instantly converted to Christianity. She lost her case of road rage and helped Jesus find the power plant. Jesus used his magical Jesus powers to help save the day and the town of Nowhere, KS.

Best Players in College Basketball

Best Point Guard- John Wall (Kentucky)

Wall is a prototype point guard. At 6'4 he is taller than most players who play that position. His size and knack for exploding to the rim and the ability to knock down the most clutch of jumpers, makes him an offensive asset, especially when the game enters crunch time.

Best Shooting Guard- Jeremy Hazell (Seton Hall)

Hazell is by far my most odd and probably biased choice in this collection of players, but his place on the list is for a reason. He can hardly play defense to save his own life, but he can make the ball go through the hoop, A LOT. He lights up the scoreboard specializing his game around the three ball. Hazell has been known for quite a while now as a green light shooter. This means he can bomb triples at will and his coach won't pull him if he's having an off night. This is because Hazell doesn't have off nights. He currently is 8^th in the nation in scoring.

Best Small Forward- Evan Turner (Ohio State)

Overall the most complete player in the country in terms of all-around game. He can shoot the three and has a pure midrange shot. His ball handling is similar to that of a point guards. Of most of the college athletes who are ready for the NBA he is also in the upper echelon of athleticism. Turner is also a solid defender, which is something that is rare at his position nowadays.

Best Power Forward- Luke Harangody (Notre Dame)

I have no idea how this man is an amazing college basketball player. His presentation is that of an overweight, ugly, white goon but he plays like a small Tim Duncan. His range extends out past the 3 point line. His post game is solid as compared to other power forwards. He also is 3^rd in the nation in points per game. Some say he is this year's Tyler Hansbrough.

Best Center- Cole Aldrich (Kansas)

A GREAT shot blocker and post player with the ability to elevate from a standing position is all Cole Aldrich needs on his resume to be considered the best center in college basketball by far. He has experience playing in big games, and has defensively shutdown top tier centers in the BIG 12 conference.

 

Virginia Tech – Basketball School?

Who would have guess in the beginning of the year that Virginia Tech would have a better record than North Carolina? If we were talking about football I would have, but BASKETBALL?!? Yep, you'd better believe that those Tar Heels weren't expecting it either. UNC entered the basketball season as #4 in the USA Today preseason poll. The held that ranking through the first week until an 87-71 BEATDOWN against the Syracuse Orange. On the other end of the spectrum was the Virginia Tech Hokies. VT entered the year unranked, as usual. They started off very slowly with an early loss to Temple, who at the time was getting very little to no national respect and recognition. They then began winning, ALOT. The Hokies stormed through their non-conference schedule beating many power conference opponents. The notable opponents to fall to the Hokies basketball squad were: Georgia, Penn State, Seton Hall, and Miami. Virginia Tech was also able to defend Cassell Coliseum against Boston College, before they went on the road to take down hated rival Virginia. Virginia was able to hit a miraculous three point jumper to send the game into overtime but it wasn't enough to stop the Virginia Tech assault led by, of all people, J.T. Thompson. Virginia Tech returned home after a crushing road defeat to the U. The matchup pitted the underdog Hokies against the North Carolina Tar Heels. The Tar Heels had previously beaten the Hokies at the Dean Smith Center, the North Carolina home court, earlier in the year. The setup was that of a perfect little guy upset over a powerhouse. The Hokies proceeded to down the Tar Heels by 4. However, the Hokies couldn't celebrate for long as they would play another impressive opponent, Clemson, in a couple days. In case you were in a coma for the past few weeks, you may have noticed that we get snow here at Virginia Tech, A LOT of snow. The days preceding the massive matchup between the Hokies and the Tigers were no different. Due to inclement weather the Virginia Tech athletic department thought that alumni and some student wouldn't want to make a difficult trip to go see their team play. Oh, they were wrong. They let students show up and get into the game for free, pending there were available seats. There were some available seats, the key word being "some". Easily over 1000 VT students lined up outside Cassell looking to claim these seats. I was one of those people who were there at 2:30 who was actually able to enter into the game. It was definitely worth the wait. The Hokies pummeled the favored Clemson Tigers on their way to a double digit win. With this simple recap of the season so far being said I propose a basic question, "Is VT turning into a basketball school?" With the talent on the team and the support of the fans my wish is YES!

Tigers and Navì and Pandas. Oh, My!

Boy, I really already am growing tired of the idea of blogging. I thought to myself what could be the most random question to ask someone on the street. After a bit of pondering I ended up with, “If you could be one animal (non-human) what would you be?” So I began to ask peers of mine the same question, and critique their answers. The order I will analyze answers in will be based solely upon the order I received the responses in.

Melissa Volkmar- Avatar (Navì)
WOW! First creature I got was one I could rant for hours about. The immediate relation between the Navì and the environment is simply amazing, particularly because Cameron’s amazing storytelling. I’m sure the connection between the Navì and all things living is the reason Melissa chose them as her creature.

Julia Tillinghast-Akalin- Seal
I was a bit surprised when Julia chose a seal. Seals have been known to be very elusive and keen. I thought that Julia would have been more inclined to choose a primate because they’re versatile and possessing of human-like thought processes.

Robert Hardinge- Gorilla
Gorillas are brute animals, with amazing strength and surprising intelligence. Very similar to humans, gorillas act on emotion and need.

Lauren White- Hyena
Lauren provided this answer with an explanation of her own for the decision. “They laugh a lot :)” The explanation is very simple, but very concise.

Alexandra Egert- Giraffe
Before I began receiving responses I figured that I would have at least one giraffe response. Giraffes are tall and very passive creatures. They are normally known to travel in packs of giraffes with similar traits (Single Males, Single Females, Older Males, etc.)

Michael Adkins- Platypus
Platypuses are basically a mishmash of a bunch of different animals. They have a duck’s bill, a thick layer of fur, a beaver tail, and the males have poisonous stingers on their feet. (WTF!) Simply put, they are a versatile animal who kicks ass and takes names.

Ian Patrick- Tiger
Tigers are hunters. Some of nature’s fastest and most elusive animals have trouble living long after a tiger decide that it’s hungry. Tigers are heavily family dependent and can be loving creatures when trained but many are too fearful to even consider befriending such an intimidating animal.

Daniel Adamson- Chimera
The Chimera is mythology’s craziest beast. It possesses the body and head of a lion, a tail ending in a snakes head, and a goat growing out of the center of its spine. A weird mix of animals and the ability to mate with human women is a pretty good reason why Dan chose this beast.

Emily Daniels- Beluga Whale
Beluga Whales are Near Threatened on the extinction scale. They are very delicate looking creatures whom appearance is similar to that of a pure light. This is because of their all white appearance and smooth skin. A very interesting animal which is one that’d I know I want to see in my lifetime.

Andy Fernandez- Panda
Pandas are pretty deceptive and rare creatures. Their appearance makes them seem warm and loving but they can be extremely violent and malicious creatures. They are also of a very rare breed and are considered endangered.

Josh Nicholson- Penguin
Penguins are nature’s classiest animals. Always in a killer tuxedo, the penguin is able to swim in frosty waters but is often killed for doing so by more vicious animals. It’s best for penguins to stay on land when not hunting for fish.

Jessie Denson- Velociraptor
Possibly the best hunter in the history of this planet is the Velociraptor. Known to hunt in packs and communicate similar to the way humans do, Velociraptors had claws which were able to dig into prey’s flesh easily killing and dismantling large seemingly safe animals. Their bone structures resembled that of birds of prey today.

Emily Huang- Rabbit
Rabbits are fuzzy often amusing creatures. Rabbits have a place in film and entertainment as well as nature. They were popularized by portrayal of Bugs Bunny a cartoon rabbit. They have a thick layer of fur and are often considered good household pets.

Brian Martin- Tiger
The tiger was the only animal with more than one person choosing them as their animal. This is because Tigers are violent hunters and killers and have some mean stripes. They also have a place in Hollywood with representation from Tony the Tiger. You may ask what I think about tigers. “They’rrrrrrrrrrrre GGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRREEAT!”

Christal Bacon-Falcon
Falcons are elite birds of prey. The basically hunt what they want. Falcons are agile and precise hunters seeing all the land as they soar in the sky. They can dive-bomb and do crazy midair tricks for entertainment when needed. They are a badass animal.

Me-Dragon
NO CONTEST! I love Dragons. They eat things, primarily people and cows. They can fly higher than most birds. They can also breathe fire. What can’t a dragon do?!? A dragon also killed Beowulf, early literature’s B.A.M.F. They kill, eat, and spit hot fire. Best creature ever!

First Blog of Spring Semester!

In my time of boredom between classes and assorted work I thought of an intriguing idea for a blog. I decided that to open up the spring season of blogs, what would be better than blogging about the person who makes us blog. I came to the decision to blog about Julia Clare Tillinghast-Akalin. For reference, I will only disclose facts I have obtained through legal internet browsing.

Searching for ‘Julia Clare Tillinghast-Akalin’ on Facebook will provide very explicit and unique results. There is only ONE Julia Clare Tillinghast-Akalin, and we are lucky enough to have her as our English instructor. I find the fact that there is only one Julia Clare Tillinghast-Akalin very interesting, but not surprising because of the inclusion of a middle name. I broadened my search to ‘Julia Tillinghast-Akalin’. Lo and behold, the search provided identical results, minus the fact that our teacher has multiple Facebook accounts. In few words I can describe Julia Clare Tillinghast-Akalin as, “one of a kind, literally”.

I then traveled to the popular search engine site, Google. Unlike my previous search I wanted to specify the results toward a specific area, blogging. My search of “"Julia Clare Tillinghast-Akalin" "blog"” gave me the following results.

Results 1 - 10 of about 53 for "julia clare tillinghast-akalin" "blog". (0.22 seconds)

53 results is rather impressive considering a search of my own name and hometown only returned 10, 2 of which pertain to a murder case in New Jersey and a Mexican Restaurant. I was intrigued by the high result number in the search for Julia Clare Tillinghast-Akalin’s Blogs, so I decided to conduct further investigation. Following multiple links, I consistently ended up on what appeared to be Julia’s own blog site. Apparently Julia’s blog profile had 580 total views which is quite a large amount considering I didn’t think that many people blogged at all. I quickly came to my attention that Julia is a very “accomplished” blogger. This is when I quickly changed the intention of my blog from an investigation to a critiquing.

“30 POEMS IN 30 DAYS”
I thought the idea of having people post their favorite poems for 30 days was a very interesting and pretty different. The concept seemed to work effectively for the first few days of the 30. Some people posted deep heartfelt poems whereas other left quick, basic, simple poems. Unfortunately as the days came to pass the idea began to run low on followers. By the 9th day the blog ceased to post new ideas and as quickly as it began it had died.
My Grade of “30 Poems in 30 Days” = C+

“GENIUS SEX-POSITIVE POLITICALLY SAVVY FUNNY ADVICE”
To my EXTREME disappointment, nothing was even blogged about. Simply put, “A HUGE LETDOWN.”
My Grade of “GENIUS SEX-POSITIVE POLITICALLY SAVVY FUNNY ADVICE” = F

“BLOGGING MAKES ME NERVOUS”
At first look seemed to be a random assortment of poems pictures and suggestions to other sites. As I read into each poem posted I noticed the sophistication and individuality in each one. “Meditations in an Emergency” was a great touch on the blog. I found the mix tape website rather comical because it consists of playlists from “loves and ex-loves”. I had no idea what the picture of the horse was for but its complete unpredictable appearance gave me a laugh. I can only wish there were more entries in the blog.
My Grade of “BLOGGING MAKES ME NERVOUS” = A

“TAKEN FROM TURKEY”
“TAKEN FROM TURKEY” is a very interesting collection of pictures from Julia’s trip to Turkey. I found myself sifting through each picture and title understanding a small portion of Turkey and its culture. After I looked at all the pictures I noticed the caption at the top of the blog page which enlightened me not only that Turkey had also modernized and contained shopping malls, offices, and such, but also had many aspects of beauty that helped Julia cheer up.
My Grade of “TAKEN FROM TURKEY” = B

“blogging makes me nervous (2)”
This blog had only 2 entries, both of which were poems. Both poems I found to be above average. However, the imagery used in the first poem created distinct scenery in my mind and I was relatively impressed by it. Not much to say about this blog as it was short and pretty average aside from some aspects of the first poem.
My Grade of “blogging makes me nervous (2)” = C

I found Julia’s blog posts to be very unique, similar to her name. I think that the collection of entries across the 5 blogs was one of a kind, some executed better than others.
My OVERALL Grade of Julia’s Compilation of Blogs = B- (Ironically the same grade I received in her class last semester)