Entry #11- End of the Semester

Well, I did it!

I mean, we did it!

English 102 has actually been great help to me. Normally, I don't seem to grasp the concept of writing essay after essay, but this class helped me learn that in doing so, you improve each time and become more passionate, creative and intrigued in what we begin writing about! 

Not to mention the fact that Mr. Nielson is a great teacher! 

His concepts and plans for the semester were very interesting and made me actually want to learn more. 

So, to future students taking English 102, be hopeful that you get Mr. Nielson!

Haha! 

But in general, to anyone taking this class, pay attention and really try. English can be difficult if you don't apply yourself correctly. Make sure to be responsible and ask questions. Inform the teacher, get student help, anything that can improve your learning in a positive way!

When creating these blogs, actually be truthful and put your emotions into it!

I personally thought this assignment was fun and educational. I enjoyed having the freedom to express myself and also have an audience that enjoys reading it. Also, being able to step into other's shoes in their blogs and seeing their perspective was so interesting!

I learned from creating and writing blogs is that it keeps your mind creative and focused. When you have specific entries it is nice to be able to explore each topic and explain how it makes one feel personally. 

I also enjoyed being able to see how my peers and classmates react with each topic! Honestly, it was a fun assignment and I would do this again for another class! 

Overall, I say to take it seriously, but also have fun with it. It gives you a chance to express yourself in class and see how other people think as well. 

Then before you know it, you're done!! And you have all these entry memories to look back on and reminiscence of the fun times in English 102! 

It is like a fun way to see your past self thoughts!

Entry #10- Stem Cells, do they really work?!

Science is honestly incredible.

So many discoveries are here now because of science itself.

One thing I love about science is its power to help those in need of good health!

My brother recently underwent stem cell surgery back in June.

Why you may ask?

Well, four years ago, the day right after Christmas, my brother was out at a bar with some friends in downtown Phoenix. Just a normal typical night, like they always did back then.

Unfortunately and of all nights, some crazy guy came in and shot up the place. Four people were shot in this horrible act. Two were severely injured and two died. My brother was one of them that got severely injured. The guy had shot him twice leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. 

I can just picture this night like it happened yesterday...

Well, on a more happy note, my brother survived and is in good condition as we speak!
The doctors say he is temporally paralyzed, and will soon walk again in a couple years or so.

Four years have passed, and he has made so much improvement! He can stand on his own, and move his left leg completely! But, the long, hopeful journey isn't over yet. 

In hopes of speeding up the process, my brother did serious research, raised money, and traveled to Panama City to get treated with stem cell injections!

He actually created a blog to update everyone on his journey!! How cool right?!

If interested, you can view the blog here: http://www.joshsrecovery.blogspot.com/

He lived there for a month with my dad. Every day the doctors went through physical therapy, did some surgery and injected millions and millions of stem cells each day!

Since his trip, he has recovered greatly!! He can now move his right knee up, stand, exercise more, and do many more things he was never able to do before the surgery!!

The doctors say he is supposed to see complete results in early/mid 2016! 

I believe the stem cells are working and I have such high hope for my brother being able to walk soon since it is supposed to speed up the entire process!

If the stem cells work like the doctors intended them too, my brother will be walking, running, jogging and jumping in no time!! 

Entry #9- Media

Everyone pictures the phrase "media" differently than others.

Media, in my opinion, is considered a powerful tool to get a point across. SO much of what our generation revolves around deals with media.

mediamediamediamedia! That's all our generation hears about!

Honestly, if it isn't talk about media, its talking about social networking, technology, blah blah blah....

But clearly anyone simply knows that in the end it is all a sort of media!

Growing up. I never payed any attention to "media" and such. Like, what was media back then!?

How strange to think of how much things improve throughout the years.

On a more personal note though, I strongly believe media portrays everything in such a negative way. More of what media deals with is used with an intense emotion to scare, warn and inform of situations in the world. This can also include the acts of how media can create an inappropriate mindset for younger children!

Maybe if our generation spent less time worrying about media, and more time getting involved and having more human contact, our generation could develop more sane behavior. 

Again, it is just my opinion..

So what do you think of media??

Entry #8- Jobs

Over the last couple of years I had never really thought about getting a job just yet. I always thought focusing on school and only school was important. Over time though, I realized more and more each day that I strongly needed a job asap!

Being a full time student and spending every weekday at GCC, I did not think I could personally handle a job! 

"Too stressful? Too much word? How will I get my homework done? No more sleeping in?! No more free time to hangout with friends and family?"
These thoughts ran through my head for days but I knew I needed to get one. I was tired of feeling helpless and I knew it was time to step up!

As some of you may know, I am going to school strictly to major in becoming a vet; however, some of you do in fact know I want to pursue professional photography as well! 

In my daily search for a job I came across something so ideal to me! A photography job at an actual professional studio! This was perfect for me! 

What had happened was I applied online, made my first resume, and went into the studio two days later to let the manager know I applied! 

Before I went in I made sure my resume was in a nice folder and I attached some photographs to make up a little portfolio to impress them! Well, it worked!!

I got hired on the spot! No interview, no experience, nothing! Right away the manager was excited to have me! She even said she was not hiring anymore, but I made an exception! It was unreal! 

I now am a qualified professional photography and work at a REAL studio!! It is so awesome having a first real job that is something I LOVE doing!! Not very many people can say that!

I'm just so grateful to have had this opportunity and I cant wait to see what else the future has in store for me! 

Entry #7- Stereotypes

Everyone is normally familiar with different types of stereotypes and how they portray people and the article "Dumb Men" shows it perfectly!

To begin, the title of the website itself is already insulting, jeez!
But to be fair, it does grab attention, and makes the audience want to read to figure out what exactly the author is talking about. 

The website itself is pretty self-explanatory. There are links to videos and ads that you can watch and they show examples of how men are portrayed in media.

The most interesting and, entertaining video I watched would have to be the "Muscle Gatorade" commercial. This one was pretty funny to be honest, but I do understand the meaning behind it. Clearly, after watching it, it is obvious that the video is about the lottery, not Gatorade. But the way it was made during the video made it seem otherwise.

The way I interpreted it was that the men all clearly thought drinking the Gatorade would make they "hyped up" and "stronger" but it did the complete opposite. I think this video shows how men get involved in "stupid actions" and such.

All in all, the website seems to have never ending clips of men doing "dumb" things! I believe the whole idea behind this website is to show how men are less intelligent? I am not quite sure, but that is definitely what it seems like!

Overall, not all men are identified or stereotyped as being dumb and stupid, it just seems like a trend commercials use to sell their products and make it humorous. 

Entry #6- Prescott

Recently, I just visited Prescott, and it was gorgeous!

The weather was so wonderful: it wasn't too hot or too cold, just right!

When I went up there, I visited Lynx Lake.

Here's a photo I took of what the lake looked like:

Beautiful, right?!

It was amazing! I had never been up north to a lake before. The trees were gorgeous, the water smelt great, the atmosphere was quiet, peaceful and overall it was just very pleasant.

Since being a huge fan of nature and all, I was totally digging the whole aspect of being up there.

We did tons of venturing and even hiked some paths there too! There was also this cute little cafe shop with really delicious food!

Very grateful to have gone considering I don't do much traveling!

Saw many people fishing too, there was even tiny docks in the area.

Here are some more photos:

Definitely wouldn't mind going there again! 

Entry #5- Local Story

Not very many people enjoy reading articles, but I don't mind!

Reading this article from the Arizona Republic, I surprisingly don't quite know how I feel about it....

Shortening classes does mean less tuition, which in the long run is very beneficial!
Although, it would put more stress on students and grades would lower, which would not be a good thing at all.

Unfortunately, the idea behind shortening classes has its ups and downs, but expanding it to a variety of colleges may not agree.

Most universities, and even community colleges, want their students to succeed to the best of their ability. In order for that, they need time, patience, help and the right amount of encouragement to fulfill properly.

Having the process increased to a faster pace may throw everyone off, which would decrease in GPA and stress levels.

Plus, pushing the spring semester a week earlier could potentially mess up certain student schedules.

What a risk!

The article is very persuading and shows lots of descriptive examples and what not, but I don't think it is enough information to fully make the idea realistic.

Clearly, it is not for everyone, since most people attend different courses at their own comfortable pace.

Entry #4- Favorite Resturants

Food is probably one of the most generalized ways of expressing human emotions. 

By that I simply mean everyone loves food.

Like, more than anything.

I'v never came across someone who did not love food. Well, I guess that is kinda impossible considering it is a universal way of living. 

Anyways, when enjoying food there has always got to be a favorite place to eat!

I have come across so many people that love pizza more than anything. 

Me on the other hand, ehh not so much... 

Pizza is the most common consumed food along with cheeseburgers, tacos and ice cream! I can't even begin to describe how many pizza joints iv come across, there are just too many!

Restaurants are certainly a place where food is taken advantage of. With menus full of so many different food suggestions it is almost impossible to not want to try everything!

I have been to many restaurants and nothing has dragged my attention more than The Old Spaghetti Factory! It is easily my favorite place. It has all these pastas and Italian dishes and the bread is amazing, its insane. The interior of the place is so vintage and old fashioned looking, there is even a real Trolley on the inside where you can sit and eat, it is absolutely lovely!

So if you've never been there, I suggest totally checking it out! 

Here's the address: 1418 N Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85004

Here's what it looks like: 

So, what is your favorite restaurant?

Entry #3- Slanted Reporting

Individuals normally have a habit of explaining information without actually stating the reasoning behind it, hence, slanted reporting.

While surfing the internet trying to retrieve something close to a slanted report, I finally found one!

Lady's and gentlemen, I present to you, The Wall Street Journal!

When I stumbled upon this I knew it would be a perfect topic to discuss!

You can view the journal here:

http://www.wsj.com/

Clearly, the journal is riddled with slanted reporting left and right. As I scroll down the page and try to understand the topics, I easily picked up on the little hints in between!

There is an article that strongly caught my attention in the journal titled "Brazil Searches For Missing After Dam Breach". Unfortunately, I discovered that one must buy the journal in order to continue reading each article.....

☹

Well, at least I was still able to get some information!

The article is explaining how there is a Dam Breach in the area of Brazil and how it effected the towns nearby. As I continue reading, it actually never states about any missing people!

Weird, right?

You would think the article would at least explain the missing people and how they are going to try and find them. It just continues to describe the damages from the dam and so on.

Entry #2- Traveling

Traveling is a different experience for everyone. Some people travel spontaneously and others plan their entire trip.

Since I was born and raised in Arizona, traveling has always been such a fun and exciting experience. Normally I don't get the opportunity to travel as much as I would like, but when I do I take complete advantage of it!

Recently, I visited Newport Beach in California, and it was so peaceful. Beaches always have this calming feeling that makes you feel relaxed. The smell of the beach is one of my favorites. It has this clean sense of smell mixed with a bit of salt and fish. Most people don’t enjoy it considering fish is a very strong smell.

The feeling of the sand is warm and soft. When you sink into it while walking across the beach you get buried in the warm sand with the mixture of the refreshing water.

Who knew that dirty ocean water could feel so good!

Of course all tourists and Arizonians take advantage of the California weather, I know I sure did!

As I walked around the beach there was this shed surrounded by seagulls. When I got a closer view the seagulls were actually eating a piece of bread someone had thrown for them.

Being the visual person I am, I also realized that the seagulls like to fly purposely over people’s heads. It’s like they enjoy being closer to the ground as they fly, they tend to get really close to the point where they could fly into you.

Birds in general are strange!

Here’s a photo from the beach:

Traveling is definitely one of the best things to do whether its a place near or far!

Entry #1- Blog Discussion

Many people look for ways to vividly express their thoughts and opinions about certain topics, and that's why blogs are becoming more popular within the internet atmosphere. 
Casually searching the internet, one may come across different types of blogs that present different subjects. 

Some blogs are even created to help and inspire people of the world. One blog I happened to come across is this makeup tutorial blog. Now, I am personally not a huge fan of the makeup world, but this blog really caught my attention. It has eye-grabbing designs, colors, and huge photos which really makes the viewer sucked into the author's blog. 

You can view her blog here: http://xiaxue.blogspot.com/  

I happened to really enjoy scrolling through this blog just because it was very well organized and fun to read. This is easily a good strategy to have more viewers follow a blog and keep tabs on their posts more often. Using a tactic like this is very beneficial and, as you may know, kept my interest going. I strongly enjoyed looking at her photos and reading what she had to say about each post. It was just entertaining and interesting to analyze since it is not particularly my style.

I give this blog a: 

Some blogs even portray a more personal and casual purpose. This is more common considering family and friends can be shared with daily activities. 

Another blog I came across is controlled by a dog who enjoys blogging about his life. Yes, a dog. Now, this is a more personal- creative blog if I were to categorized this properly. 

Obviously the dog isn't blogging with his furry paws, it is in fact a man portraying himself as the dog, telling his story through his perspective. Its very clever if you ask me.

You can view his blog here: http://mogley-adogslife.blogspot.com/

I strongly enjoyed viewing this blog as well. It is organized by date to each event, the detail is very descriptive and the point of the blog is at the beginning for the viewer to understand the purpose right away. Clearly, it is taken in a humorous way as the author takes photos of the dog looking as if hes actually on the computer blogging. The blog is even in dog- first person which makes it even more amusing. Easily the most entertaining blog I have come across.

I give this blog a:

Proceeding on my little researching of blogs, I came across this very odd one. 
Now, we have established that there are many reasons people create blogs, there are also reasons such as connecting with people like the author themselves.
That being said, I came across a blog that is all about soda....yuck!

This blog in particular I wasn't a fan of, hence as to why I put a "yuck" at the end of that sentence.

(I hate soda).

Moving on, even though the blog was on a topic I strongly disliked, it was still interesting to view.
Apparently the blogger searches all around the world and collects different sodas and different types of bottles and containers they come in, what a hobby!

You can view the blog here: http://soda-pops.blogspot.com/

My attention span to this blog was giving in very quickly unfortunately. The blog design is very gloomy and dark. So, not only was the topic in this blog not as interesting as I would've liked, it wasn't designed to keep a viewer wanting to read more. Quite frankly, it made me feel a bit tired.

I suggest adding some bright colors to draw more attention!

I give this blog a:

Overall, experiencing and learning about the difference between blogs was very informal and gave myself a better understand of how to create one for the right type of audience.

Introduction Practice Entry

Hello, and welcome to my blog!

My name is Jineane and it is my very first semester attending college. I graduated back in May and I am slowly, but surely, still adjusting to the new college experience!

Here's what I look like!

A little about me: I enjoy traveling, walking around museums & appreciating art of the world, relaxing while enjoying a good movie and taking long, luxurious showers. 

A passion of mine is photography and I am very proud of the success Iv made for my age. I introduced myself into photography by choice and self-taught myself since then. I did; however, take a photography class my senior year in high school, which made me more informed on all the aspects of the history and art of photography. My style is mainly portrait photography and it is easily my strongest skill. 

Here's a portrait of my friend that I took which is one of my favorites!

By attending college I have set realistic goals that will continue to make myself work harder. I plan on getting my associates degree at GCC in science, then transferring to either NAU or ASU to finish my last two years. After that, I plan on enrolling into Veterinarian school and moving up from there to become a vet! Although that is my official career path, I do plan on pursuing photography as a professional hobby on the side, for it is something I am confident and well talented at.