Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Example Essay (Essay #5)

      Although I have been convinced my entire life that I definitely do not have OCD, there are tendencies that I have where one would think otherwise. There are many occasions where I have to stop what I'm doing in order to organize something that bothers me, or times that I can't continue what I'm doing until what I have done is perfect. There are even times where I get frustrated with others when they don't understand that I need to have some things a specific way, or I can't go on with my day.
   
     I work at a hospital in Food Service, and one of the areas of the kitchen is dedicated to putting together trays for patients. There is a cart with slots for each of the "dry" items they could get, such as salt and pepper packets, jelly packets, etc. I was walking by on my way back to work, when I noticed that someone mixed packets of honey, lemon, vinegar, and jelly all together in two different containers. I considered just walking away, but I knew that it was going to bother me for the rest of the day if I left them mixed up. So I stopped what I was working on, and I took my time to organize the condiment packets. When each item had their own, separate home, I felt comfortable getting back to work.

     Another one of my OCD tendencies, not being able to continue things unless I've made something perfect, makes me an impossible writer. The whole idea of "just a rough draft" where there can be grammatical and spelling errors sounds wonderful to me, but when I begin that process of writing, I have to make sure my grammar and spelling is perfect as I go. I have a need to self-edit as I write, instead of worrying about the content and going back to the basics later. This makes my writing take forever, and it also makes my school assignments that include multiple drafts with significant changes in each impossible to achieve. But if I continue writing knowing I had an easily changeable spelling error, my brain will be stuck on that one word instead of the content I should be writing.

     I have a very small apartment. For the amount of money I make, and because there are only two of us living here, it's the perfect size. When we moved in, I took the time to make everything look almost perfect. I placed everything where it wouldn't look too crowded or messy. But as it is with a good majority of men, if you live with them, you can't expect things to ever stay clean, or stay where they belong. This is the case with my boyfriend, who messes with my stuff and my OCD tendencies quite frequently. If one day he decides to have his dinner on the couch in front of the TV, he will move the coffee table up to the couch, move things off of the table, and move all the cushions around. This would be fine if he put it back how it was when he was finished, but instead, he gets up and leaves everything moved, and leaves all of his dishes and trash on the table. Out of all of my tendencies, this one drives me the most crazy. Immediately I have to put everything back, and throw things away, and wash the dishes he has left.

     Now I wouldn't necessarily consider these OCD tendencies to be "bad" ones. I like to keep things clean and neat, which is a good quality in all people, especially house owners. But maybe I just think that because I don't want people to think I'm going insane... completely insane, at least! I do have to apologize a lot for it affecting what I'm doing, or for it making me take more time to do things. Hopefully one day I can break out of some of these habits, so maybe my boyfriend doesn't have to hear "Michael, clean up after yourself!" for the rest of his life!

Example Essay Intro

     Although I have been convinced my entire life that I definitely do not have OCD, there are tendencies that I have where one would think otherwise. There are many occasions where I have to stop what I'm doing in order to organize something that bothers me, or times that I can't continue what I'm doing until what I have done is perfect. There are even times where I get frustrated with others when they don't understand that I need to have some things a specific way, or I can't go on with my day.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Graf #18

ISearch Progress

     A lot of trouble going on with my ISearch. :(
     See E-Mail I sent to you!

Contrast Essay

      When we were being "prepared" for college English, all we were ever told was that college will be a lot harder than high school. You'll have to write 100-page essays, read thousands of text book pages a night, take notebooks full of notes every day, and read long, boring books until your eyes dry up and fall out. After getting through high school English, I thought college English would be a nightmare. But because of my love for writing, I was never really afraid of it. But now that I'm half-way through my first semester of college, I have come to realize that there are significant differences between high school English and college English, other than the difficulty.

     In high school, English classes consisted of looking at text-books. The extent of an English class in my high school was, "Turn to this page, read this person's story, and write about your feelings." In college, even though I'm in a non-traditional online class instead of a traditional in-person class, I haven been  re-introduced to the variety of things that an English class should offer, including lectures, essays, reading other people's work, brainstorming, researching, getting creative, and being given all the slack in the world to do what I want to do with my writing.

     The homework assignments in my high school English classes were the equivalent of what we had done in the class. "Read Frederick Douglass's narrative and then write one paragraph telling how it made you feel." "Read the next chapter out of Of Mice and Men and write a couple of sentences telling why you think Lennie Small acted the way he did." The assignments were about things that are good to think about, and that are good knowledge to have, but they really limited our capabilities as writers, and gave high school students a really easy, but boring, way out. In this college English class, we are given a lot to think about, and new things to try, and although we are given guidelines to follow, we are very free to write about whatever WE want to write about. This essay, for example, needs to contrast two things, and needs to be interesting to US, and be five paragraphs long. But the sky is the limit for the two things we want to contrast!

     The grading system in a high school English class is based on two things: did you do it, and does it relate to the topic? If you answered yes to both of those questions, congratulations, you get a 100. This was great news for us lazy high schoolers who just wanted to pass the class and move on with our lives. It was very little effort on our part, and even less effort on the English teacher's part. What I have found (rather, what we were ever so bluntly told,) in our college English class, you have done well if you have tried, if you relate to what you have written, and if your writing does what it's supposed to do. But Mr. Goldfine will tell you if it needs work, or if you have obviously blown off his well thought out assignment for something that has interested you more. In college, you are pushed and guided to your full potential by being given the sky as your limit.

     It's no secret that I enjoy college English so much more than I enjoyed my robotic, high school English classes. After four years of forgetting "hey, I can write about anything!" I'm glad to have my writing tested and criticized again, and to not have my nose shoved into a text book when I sit down to do my English work.

Graf #2 of Contrast Essay

     In high school, English classes consisted of looking at text-books. The extent of an English class in my high school was, "Turn to this page, read this person's story, and write about your feelings." In college, even though I'm in a non-traditional online class instead of a traditional in-person class, I haven been  re-introduced to the variety of things that an English class should offer, including lectures, essays, reading other people's work, brainstorming, researching, getting creative, and being given all the slack in the world to do what I want to do with my writing.

Contrast Essay Intros

#1
    English has been, and always will be, my favorite subject, and my favorite thing to learn about. I have always been told that I'm a good writer, (when I try to be,) and I'm always open to new styles of writing. But having been through high school English classes, and now a college English class, I have come to realize that there are significant differences between these two levels of classes.

#2
      When we were being "prepared" for college English, all we were ever told was that college will be a lot harder than high school. You'll have to write 100-page essays, read thousands of text book pages a night, take notebooks full of notes every day, and read long, boring books until your eyes dry up and fall out. After getting through high school English, I thought college English would be a nightmare. But because of my love for writing, I was never really afraid of it. But now that I'm half-way through my first semester of college, I have come to realize that there are significant differences between high school English and college English, other than the difficulty.

Essay #2

      It's been pouring rain all day, and the clock hits 8 PM as I'm driving down a two-lane road on my way to pick up something for dinner. The headlights from cars, street lights and business signs reflect off of the wet windshield, and I see out of the corner of my eye a dim light from a cell phone coming from small, black sports car driving in the lane beside me. I felt like something bad was going to happen, so I kept my eye on the sports car as long as it was beside me. All of a sudden, the sports car started to merge into my lane while he was still directly next to me. Already prepared to react if something were to happen, I put on my breaks, blared my horn, and pulled onto the side of the road to make room for the sports car. This guy was a multi-tasker, and he almost got himself... and me... into trouble. There are three main types of bad drivers: the "speeder," the "grandma," and the "multi-tasker," like our sports car friend.

     The speeder is the most common type of bad driver. Whether it's someone in a hurry, someone who thinks that fast is cool, or someone who thinks they're straight out of "The Fast and the Furious," you always encounter someone trying to race by you. Let me ask, which would be worse: being 10 minutes late to work instead of 5 minutes late, or losing control and smashing into a tree, or another driver? When I lived in Waltham, every morning I would expect the same vehicle to come flying by me, no matter what the road conditions were. One morning during a snow storm, this same small, brown car passed me on a causeway without hesitation. The roads were a sheet of ice, and I couldn't go over 10 MPH without losing traction, but this driver thought they were invincible. When I see someone speeding by, I'm not thinking "Oh they look SO rad pushing 90 MPH in a 45 MPH zone!" No, I'm thinking, "I really hope a cop is sitting around the corner to bust their ass."

     Another common type of bad driver, the "grandma," brings out the impatience in even the most patient people, and can even be dangerous. When you're on a schedule, it's frustrating when you come up behind an elderly person doing 5 MPH in a 35 MPH zone. You drive patiently behind for a while, but when you've only gone 100 feet down the road in one minute, your patience tends to wear a little. I'm a believer in re-take driving tests when you hit between 70 and 80 years old. At the beginning of summer 2012, I was driving in the left lane of a two-lane, one-way road. All of a sudden, I see a gold Subaru pull out of a gas station to my right. The person in the right lane was lucky enough to see her in time and slam on their breaks, but the Subaru got to my side of the road and side-swiped my poor Malibu before I could react. I was devastated, and the worst part was: the woman in the Subaru was a 94 year old woman who said that she looked before pulling out, and didn't see anyone coming. My car was considered totaled, and I had to buy it back from the insurance company and use the money I got from the accident not being my fault to fix it. If this woman had re-taken her test, they probably would have figured out her sight was bad before she was able to total my car. The "grandma" driver may not be the most common, but it can be deadly!

     Last but not least, we come back to our sports car friend, the "multi-tasker." Out of all of the types of bad driver, this one is fast becoming the most common, almost beating out the "speeder." This decade has become all about cell phones, iPods, and other portable technology. It was a month or two after first getting my license when I was on my way back to work after taking a short dinner break. I stopped at a stop sign in a parking lot, and when I saw nobody coming, I began to cross to the other side of the lot, which cuts across five lanes; three going out to the main road, and two coming in from it. I was passing the last two lanes and was almost home-free, until a woman flew around the corner off of the main road and side-swiped me. She was speeding, and on her cell phone. This was not a nice woman. She freaked out, said it was my fault, and I ended up having to pay for her car because technically she had the right of way. Luckily in the situation nobody was hurt, but there are many accidents where people haven't been so lucky. In the time that you take to text and drive, you travel the distance of a whole football field... without looking. Whether it's someone trying to get a quick meal in, a soccer mom attempting to discipline her kids while she drives, somone putting on make up, or someone texting, the "multi-tasker" may be the most dangerous type of bad driver there is.

     So after multiple encounters with bad drivers, I wish I could say that there's a way to prevent letting these people on the road. But as soon as that small, rectangular piece of plastic is handed to them and their freedom and a steering wheel are put into their hands, you'll never know what type of driver they will decide to be. Bad drivers are being born every day, and somewhere, someone was just told "you've passed!" by an instructor who doesn't know they could be giving that potential bad driver the freedom to make the road a little more dangerous.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Outro to Classification Essay

     So after multiple encounters with bad drivers, I wish I could say that there's a way to prevent letting these people on the road. But as soon as that small, rectangular piece of plastic is handed to them and their freedom and a steering wheel are put into their hands, you'll never know what type of driver they will decide to be. Whether you're a speeder, a multi-tasker, or a grandma, please be aware of the people around you. A vehicle is a lot of responsibility and a lot of power, and I would rather not have my life or anyone elses life end from a stupid move you decide to make.

Graf #17

"I find my debit card cowering in my pocket, begging me not to abuse it too much."

Nice line!

:)

This is clearly structured, individual; I can hear a distinct voice; definitely a cause essay, definitely one I accept.

Weakest graf: 3. Not enough detail about what you spend money on on those wild nights out. 



I'm glad you like it! I was actually felt pretty good about this essay. I usually never like my own writing, but when I'm writing about myself and my own experiences, it's so much easier to describe things. 
As for graf number 3, I didn't think to put an example in there. I would tell about the time that my boyfriend and I spent a bunch of money shopping, eating out and going to the movies all in one night. I felt mighty guilty about how much I spent after! 

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Classification Essay Intros

Intro 1:
     It's very rare nowadays that you can get in your car and drive to your destination without encountering something or someone that makes you go "What the hell?!"In most cases, you'll be exclaiming about someones driving skills... or lack of. There are three main types of bad drivers: the "speeder", the "multi-tasker", and the "grandma."

Intro 2:
     It's been pouring rain all day, and the clock hits 8 PM as I'm driving down a two-lane road on my way to pick up something for dinner. The headlights from cars, street lights and business signs reflect off of the wet windshield, and I see out of the corner of my eye a dim light from a cell phone coming from small, black sports car driving in the lane beside me. I felt like something bad was going to happen, so I kept my eye on the sports car as long as it was beside me. All of a sudden, the sports car started to merge into my lane while he was still directly next to me. Already prepared to react if something were to happen, I put on my breaks, blared my horn, and pulled onto the side of the road to make room for the sports car. This guy was a multi-tasker, and he almost got himself... and me... into trouble. There are three main types of bad drivers: the "speeder," the "grandma," and the "multi-tasker," like our sports car friend.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Graf #16

My favorite sample classification essay was the first one, about snakes, snails and puppy dogs tails. I think that this essay gave the clearest example on how a classification essay should look like based on Mr. Goldfine's description. It's also very interesting because she used very personal information about her life to make the essay more interesting and fun to read.

Graf #15

     I'm sitting in an uncomfortable, ugly, red motel chair listening to my boyfriend talk to customers about room reservations and making small talk. I'm holding my pen in one hand, my phone in the other, carefully studying my College Composition homework page. Cause graf? What cause for why I did something or think something would be good enough for a five paragraph essay? A bunch of things start running through my head based on what I see around me. Why do Maine winters suck? Why am I sitting in this motel right now? Why do people like lobsters so much? Why am I so hungry? Why are owls my favorite animals? And just as I started to get frustrated, my boyfriend asks me what I want for dinner. I respond, "I don't know, I don't have any money!"
     Kablam. "Why I'm broke all the time." (Refer to Cause Essay!)

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Cause Essay

     "Your check will be made out for $1,200, and you may move in immediately."
This was what my landlord told me the day I moved into my apartment. Freedom! But yet again, I'm broke!
     "Let's go to Chili's for dinner, and maybe I'll get some drinks. Then we can go to the movies and get a bunch of popcorn." Finally, a night out. Bye, bye, money!
     "Thank you! Your credit card has been charged $175.45!"
This was my boyfriend's 21st birthday present: concert tickets for this past summer. Yes, I'm broke again!

     Why is it that no matter how hard I try, I can't save my money to save my life? It's always one thing or another, and my bank account is always the one that is suffering.For as long as I have been making my own money, I've had such a hard time saving it. Whether it's because I have crazy amounts of bills due, or because I went out and had some fun, or because there was a birthday or holiday that I had to use my money for, I am always broke.

     Ever since I turned 18 years old, I have been welcomed into the wonderful world of bills! (Can you sense the sarcasm there?) Cell phone bills, insurance bills, rent, college bills, gas, food, heat, electricity, internet, etc. Sometimes it seems like these endless companies that humans can't live without are so eager, and so overjoyed when they take your money. Taking money is to bill collectors as collecting cats is to a cat lady: so much fun! But can I blame them all for stealing my money away, or do I blame myself? I chose to have a nice cell phone, to live on my own, to attend college and drive a car. But these things are also an expected part of living these days. If I were to limit myself to these expenses only, I would be living life, but not to the fullest. This is not the end of the money-sucking parasites that seem to always have their teeth sunk into my bank account.

     Having fun and doing things for yourself is necessary. Right? If we didn't take a little time and money for ourselves, surely we would all be unhappy robots doomed to work, pay bills, learn, eat, sleep, repeat. I work days and I am enrolled in school full time, and my boyfriend works overnights as well as occasional days on top of that. When the one night finally comes that both of us are free and not too tired to stand, we want to go have fun. This is understandable, isn't it? We always go out and have a great time, and we don't worry about anything that we always have to worry about... until the end of the night, the fun is over, and I realize that we just spent the equivalent of our electric bill on dinner alone. I always wonder if I should feel bad about things like this, but in the end, what's done is done, and I take on a few extra hours to cheer up my empty savings account until the next money-eating parasite comes around.

     The end of the year has always been my favorite time of year, starting around October. I love the holidays (the snow...not so much.) But just like everyone else around the world, I find my debit card cowering in my pocket, begging me not to abuse it too much. In my family, everyone just so happened to be born around the same time. my brother, sister, dad and I all have birthdays between the months of October and January, on top of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Oh, and Black Friday... nobody can forget that. You may see where I'm going with this already, but all hopes of saving money during this time of year is completely non existing. I have this annoying need to get everyone I love something really great and perfect for them as gifts, and when I find that perfect gift, I love seeing the reaction on their faces when I give it to them. Maybe I can't save money when it's birthday and holiday season, but I think my bank account understands this one.

So after expensive birthday presents, big decisions that make my bank account sad, and many nights out, I have finally decided to start saving my money. Between having a full time job and being a full time college student, I have decided that there are things I need to prepare for and I need to start taking responsibility for things. I know, it's all boring, no-fun adult stuff, and I know it's not going to be easy (or fun!!). In the end, my bank account and future me will thank me!

Graf #14

PLANNING RESEARCH

I will use my Psychology book for a few answers about dreams, because there is a section dedicated to them.
I will also use the website that Mr. Goldfine showed me about memory, and people who are able to remember almost everything.
I see more problems coming up with me combining "memory" and "memories" again. When I start to think about my topic, I accidentally tend to focus on memories I have without including memory, and I often forget my questions.
I think I'm going to split up my questions and research them individually, and then bring them all together in order to reach my goal.
I'm going to use a lot of personal experience.
I'm going to experiment a little with the theories of how to improve memory by testing a few "at home" techniques to see if they work.
I don't see this all being answered on one website, since my questions aren't completely similar, and because I'm dealing with memories (why we remember some of them, dreams, etc.) AND memory (how it works, how to improve it, etc.).