final blog

I've learned a lot in speech class. I'm pretty sure my extemp speeches will now be more than the minimum of 4 1/2 minutes! I've learned a lot about eye contact, and that by looking at the back of the room doesn't count. People can tell if I'm not looking at them, so direct eye contact is key. I enjoyed having speech as independent study. I got a lot of time to work on other things, and I had enough stuff to keep me busy with writing speeches and doing projects. I might have liked having speech in a class setting, too. It was fun just hanging out with Kaelee, but having a class to speak to and interact with might have been nice, too. Don't get me wrong, 7th graders are quite interesting! haha.. overall it was a good time.
I didn't think any part was a waste of time, the "Last Will" was my favorite, and informative speaking is way easier than oral interp. I like the more cut & dry type of speeches. I don't think I'd change anything about the class. I liked being independent and having the work ethic to complete my stuff on time (most was on time :p) It was all on me, and by having to get things done on my own on a strict time schedule helped me to prioritize my things to get the more important parts done first.
Speech was fun! I think it helped me a lot with nervousness, because towards the end of the class I didn't really get nervous as easily. Hopefully what I've learned shows through in speech this year! I'm a lot more confident talking to people I don't know now, and having intellectual conversations with strangers comes a bit easier. (Not like men off the street kinda strangers.. but people i don't really know that well) hah.. well, goodbye speech!

Oral Interp

So, my oral interp didn't go as well as it could have. I didn't use any hand gestures at all, and my voices were kind of lacking, too. My eye contact wasn't very good either, I relied on the script for too much of it. there wasn't a variation in my characters, so I imagine it was kind of boring to watch. I didn't put myself into the situation, so I didn't really know how to "feel" for each character. I also should have used the emotion of the piece as a whole: gotten louder and softer when it fit the piece.
Overall, I don't think I did as well as I could have. I seem to practice it ok, but when it comes time to present, I lose all my enthusiasm, gestures, and eye contact. I pretty much just stood up front and read a story without emotions. I need to make things bigger and more pronounced so my audience knows my character differences. Even though my voice changes seem big to me, they're not near enough so the audience can easily understand my character changes.
I will do better on my next one!

Superhero!

If I were a superhero, I'd pry be pretty dang super ;). My superhero name would be " ." It looks like there's nothing there and there isn't! ..I'm so super I don't even need a name, any long dramatic pause in a conversation is a reference to me! My super powers include being invisible, and being in more than one place at a time. I also can heal people by looking at them and have the amazing ability to travel through space and stop time. My costume would be the coolest thing you've ever seen. It would be orange and navy blue, those being " "'s favorite colors. It would have a giant "S" on the chest referring to just how super I am. It would also have a really sweet mask, kind of like the one off of The Incredibles, but not really. It would be diamond studded so I can cut people with my intense stares. That's pretty much as super as my super hero would be :)
**Next time you stop to pause in a conversation, think of " ." & i'll be right there to help!
as for my theme song.. it would be "Superhuman" by Chris Brown because that is exactly what I am.. super-human!
























>>>>There I am! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^Can't even see me! ^^^^^^^^^ :)

Problems, Solutions & some Goals, too!

So I finally figured out that I could type in different colors! ha.. yay me! Wait 'till the last few days of bloggin for me to finally get it all figured out.
Anyways, my problem currently is that I have no motivation to do anything. I pretty much have senior-itis already! I just keep sliding by with an acceptable grade and doing halfway decent work when I know I could be doing better that I'm doing. I've taken to studying the morning of the test and the few minutes before and although that's working really well, it's not all that acceptable on my own personal standards. I still get everything done that I need to, but not to the best of my ability.
My solution to this problem is to find something to get me more excited about doing the best I possibly can. I hope to study more than the morning before a test, do my assignments as correctly as I can without shortening answers, and just being more upbeat about my classes in general. In some classes my lack of work ethic is showing, I don't want to be remembered as the girl who just slid by her senior year because she got bored with school.
My goals are to apply for nursing school and write the best essays I can to get accepted and get enough money to attend a private school. So far I'm doing pretty well because my applications are almost done, my essays are getting to where they need to be, and I'm also applying for many scholarships to get all the money I can. One of my ultimate goals is to just be happy. I'm accomplishing this one as well because I live each day as it comes and don't sweat the small stuff. Things that could possibly get in my way are cast aside because being a happy person is a major goal of mine.

How technology has affected and is affecting my life..

Technology has affected my life drastically. When I was little, computers weren't even that big of a deal, but as I grew up they are becoming much more important to our everyday lives. I also remember when my parents first went from a car phone to cell phones.. how exciting that was!! ;) Then they upgraded to a flip phone from an open faced phone, then to razors and so on. Thinking back on it now, I realize just how much technology has changed just from when I was little. Another thing that wasn't popular when I was little was texting, now it's everywhere! People are constantly texting nowadays, and almost everyone has a cell phone. Technology is always changing and making things more efficient, easier to use, and better overall. When we first got laptops I was kind of against it because it would be something new to get used to. I didn't like the fact that they were Macs and I was used to Windows, but it wasn't hard at all to get used to the new computers. I actually like them now and dread taking notes by hand. It's so much easier and faster to type than to hand-write things.
Technology changing can also be a not so great thing. New technology means spending more money to update. When new technology comes out, the stores usually stop selling the old things (for ex. VHS/DVD & Blueray) and only sell the new things, leaving people to have to buy a DVD player because VHS tapes aren't sold anymore. The new things could also harm our environment, be made out of resources that we don't have enough of, or could be used for more harm than good. Changing technology also causes some people to rebel because they don't like the idea of changing or conforming to what everyone else is doing. They stick to their old ways just so that they don't have to be like everyone else. This makes them fall behind in the working world because offices usually try to stay up to date with the current technology in order to keep their business thriving. When people don't know how to use computers today, it makes it a hassle for the people who do know how because they have to teach the other people. Most people really understand the new things by trial and error, and if a person doesn't have access to the newest technology then they won't be as familiar with the product as they could be.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Hi mom and dad. I spose I'm doing just grand. Class isn't too terribly hard, and the speeches are kind of fun. This new batch of 7th graders isn't quite as exciting as the last, but they're still pretty entertaining. I'm doing well, as you can see by my grades. I make sure I get all of my speech stuff done before I do things for other classes. That's about it.. everything's goin swell.
Oh yea, and my speech skills are improving. I've learned that a notecard is actually not that heavy, and I can hold it in just one hand! I'm also getting less nervous everytime I speak. :)

stickers..

my government class chose the blog for yesterday, I had it all typed out then I forgot to submit it. So here it is.. stickers. We are very grateful to Mrs. Fleecs for giving us stickers when we do well. We probably like it more than the freshman do.
The next two topics include homecoming court and community service day. Homecoming court is a HUGE popularity contest, and it seems as if the candidates are chosen only because other people think a person's going to win either way. Sweetheart is the same way, but almost a little bit better because more than just the letterclub can choose the candidates. I know it's part of tradition, and I wouldn't want to do away with it because it's a part of high school.
So, community service day. When I wrote yesterday, I was going to say that I didn't think community service day wouldn't be so bad, and it actually wasn't. The things we had to do weren't too terribly hard, and I'm glad it was a nice day out otherwise it would've been really miserable. My group went to the lake and picked up trash on the jetty's.