Self Reflective- Developed Significantly as a Writer

English 1020 is the first English course that I’ve taken in my first semester of college. Through this course I’ve been taught how to create a blog and post my writings. I’ve always thought of English to be writing papers and turning it into the actual hands of my teacher, but in this course I was taught to use online methods to create a writing and turn it in via internet, something that I am not use to. I feel that doing writing and reading through the Internet can make your work stronger. Through this English course I have developed strongly as a writer.
In other English classes that I have taken I was always use to getting a topic and writing about it, whereas this class gave you a subject that’s broad and gives you the chance to reflect your own into it. The three main papers that were assigned to the class was Observational, Reflective and Rhetoric essay. Our weekly assignments also included topics that the teacher chose and free writes. In the observational essay I got to choose what I wanted to observe and write about. I also got to reflect on things I wanted to reflect on with the reflective essay, and I got to choose a piece of rhetoric that I wanted to analyze.
During this period, the free writes gave me a lot of time to open up to many new ideas and fun and exciting things to write about. I never usually write on what’s going on in the world, and I finally did. On one of my free writes I wrote about the weather. I wrote, “I ran into plenty of pot holes and had to be washed many of times to clean off all the chemicals CDOT pours down on the roads to melt the ice”. In this class I learned to incorporate hyperlinks into my text so the reader can have a deeper understanding about what it is that I am talking about. In another piece of writing I wrote I used a hyperlink that backed up statistics that I incorporated in my writing, “The Statistics on Drinking and Driving among Teens says that eight teens die a day due to drunk driving.” I’ve learned that using facts and statistics can make your piece of writing stronger.
Using hyperlinks and statistics were a main part of my posts, but I’ve also learned to summarize and give background information on the subject I’m writing about. In one of my last post, the rhetoric essay I summarized a Bud Weiser commercial clip to give the reader an understanding of the You Tube clip I posted. I wrote, “The instructor tries to get one of the divers to gather enough courage to jump out of the plane, but when that doesn’t work, he tries to entice him by throwing a six-pack of Bud light out the door saying, "Not even for some Bud Light?". Instead of going for the bait the diver sits back and watches the pilot, who doesn’t have a parachute or anything to help him reach the ground safely, instinctively fly out of the plane after the cool and refreshing beverage.” In this summary I used actual dialogue to explain what was going on. I even boosted up my word choice by using “cool and refreshing beverage”.
Using clips and pictures in my writing was a big advantage of writing things online. I think that it gives the reader a clue about that you’re talking about and it’s a lot more interesting. All, if not most of my post have an image or clip incorporated in it. These images also give the audience an idea about the titles that the post were given. I’ve never had to write so many titles in an English class and this class has developed my ability to write interesting titles. Some of these titles include: Half Undressed, Dinner and a Hitch Hiker, What if that Stranger Hit and Killed Me, Turning Into an Obsession, etc.
These weekly assignments and papers that I was given to write has developed me as a writer in many ways. I learned how to be more computer friendly, using the internet to incorporate hyperlinks, clips, and images. Using statistics in my paper made my writing stronger and the titles that I thought of gave the audience and interest to read my posts. To make the audience not bored of what I wrote, I developed further skills of using new ideas and improving my word choice. This English class has shown me that English is not all about writing about specific topics that are given to you, but you can write about many different things and incorporate numerous effects to make your piece of writing more powerful. Through all that I learned in English 1020, I have developed significantly as a writer.

Rhetorical Analysis - Bud Light's Comedic Commercial

It’s amazing what people will do for something they love. There is so much dedication and loyalty that are shown for that person, place, or thing. In this case, I found a hilarious commercial that illustrates how far someone would go for something that is so prized and special. The commercial is a Budweiser commercial. Although there are many Budweiser commercials, this one stood out the most and caught my attention. The way it incorporates rhetoric is quite interesting. This Bud Light commercial shows the argument of the risks of drinking Bud Light.

For years Bud Light is well known through out America. Bud Light is a type of beer derived from Budweiser. “Budweiser, sometimes referred to as Bud, is a global pale lager brand owned by the U.S. based Anheuser-Busch company.The type of Budwieser, Bud light was “introduced nationally in 1982”( Wikipedia. 3 May 2007. 3 May 2007 ).Since then Budweiser has grown into one of the hugest beer names in our country and Budweiser commercials is what made it into what it is today.

This commercial uses many strategies to present their argumentation. Although there is no direct narration in the commercial, there’s a story that is told. There’s dialogue between the sky diving instructor and the guy learning to sky dive. Comparison and contrast were used to compare how scared the guy learning to sky dive was opposed to the other guys on the plane such as the instructor, pilot, and the guy that had jumped off the plane first. The pack of beer that was thrown out of the plane illustrated how someone would risk his or her life for it. That shows how this beer would affect someone’s life if they were willing to risk their life for it, like the pilot did. The product was used as an incentive for the guy jump to off the plane. All these strategies put together present the actual argument of this commercial.

That argument is the risk of drinking Bud Light. They are saying that Bud light is so great that anyone would risk anything even their own lives to have one. The taste of Bud light would have anyone who tried it craving for it. The instructor tries to get one of the divers to gather enough courage to jump out of the plane, but when that doesn’t work, he tries to entice him by throwing a six-pack of Bud light out the door saying, "Not even for some Bud Light?". Instead of going for the bait the diver sits back and watches the pilot, who doesn’t have a parachute or anything to help him reach the ground safely, instinctively fly out of the plane after the cool and refreshing beverage. With no one navigating the plane the instructor follow right behind the pilot leaving the lone diver to decide it he is willing to take his chances jumping over board or stay on board and parish with the plane.

“Budweiser is one of the major breweries that emphasizes humorous advertising campaigns. Some Bud advertising campaigns have entered the popular culture in the United States”( Wikipedia. 3 May 2007. 3 May 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budweiser_%28Anheuser-Busch%29). The commercial relies most on the visual effects. They use the commercial to illustrate the dominance that Bud Light has over any other beer, and why beer enthusiast should try their products. The commercial itself shows that once a consumer tries the product they would be hooked. The beer would have a hold over the consumer as if they were addicted to the refreshing taste. What appeals the viewer about this commercial is the pathetic yet brilliant comedy showing pathos. The comedic part of the commercial puts the viewers into a joyful mood. Which loosens up the viewer and judgment towards the actual refreshment of the product is over looked.

It’s amazing how advertisement can entice viewers to try out their products. A commercial can seem simple and comedic, but at the same time it’s those commercials that the viewers remember. When they think back to beer commercials, a lot of viewers remember the commercial that made them laugh and might even have them go out and buy themselves some of the beer that made the pilot go flying across their television screen and out the airplane door after it. All of the other aspects of the commercial sneak up on the viewer. At first they only think of it as a commercial that made them laugh and don’t realize that it could have affected the way their minds think. They might want to go out and give the beer that the pilot in the commercial would risk his life to have. The comedic aspect of this commercial is what catches the viewers attention, it has them talking about it to their coworkers or friends, and the advertisement extends farther than just the commercial alone. This is what the advertisement company wants. They succeeded in getting their point across to their viewers because now the person who hasn’t seen the commercial would want to view it for their own entertainment.

Use Protection- Freewrite

So many young teenagers are dating in our society today. I remember when I was in elementary school, kids were getting together and dumping each other like it was nothing. The drama in elementary school carried on to middle school. Then stronger feelings were developed in high school. These feelings could have been known as love or even lust.
An influence that the media has had on teenagers today is sex. Sex is everywhere and things related to it, are exposed in so many ways. There are inside jokes in cartoons that children might not have any clue about; it’s hidden. Advertisement seen on television always uses sex to sell their product. I see a lot of stuff shown on the media that have girls and guys getting pretty close or they are wearing all these provocative clothing. In result, it makes young teens want to imitate what they see because they think that’s what the cool thing to do is.
Lately I see and hear about so many girls getting pregnant. The last thing that I want to do is get pregnant. I don’t even have enough money to support myself. Sometimes I hear young mothers wonder about what their life would be like if they didn’t have a child, but they don’t regret it.
I think about all these things when I see young pregnant girls. I think about what would become of them. I wonder how they are going to be able to support the lives that they are about of bring into the world. I guess its their problem, not mine. So my lessons learned, use protection.

Dinner and a Hitchiker- Freewrite

My friend had gone to Detroit earlier in the week and finally he was back. I had arranged over the phone that a friend and I would pick him up from the airport. It was about nine p.m. when we picked him up from passenger-pick up and we were all hungry. Denny’s was the pick of the night. As we walked in through the entrance door we passed a man smoking. We exchanged sincere smiles to be nice. The hostess in front greeted and seated us near the bar. We ordered our food after a long time of contemplating over the menu. While we were talking and waiting for our food, the man we saw on our way in came back in and sat by the bar. Our food took a while because we ordered a lot and it took us a while to eat. It seemed like hours, but it wasn’t that long because we were done around eleven. The man was still there. We paid our tab and my friends and I got up to leave. As we walked out the man stopped us and asked if were heading toward Evergreen and he said he would pay us ten bucks if we could give him a ride. I never have the heart to say no, so I thought for a couple minutes and said okay. After all, if anything happened my friends could restrain him long enough so I could call the cops. The ride took us a long half an hour. The friend that came back from Detroit drove while my other friend sat in back with the Hitchhiker. I got to sit shotgun. The whole ride there I kept on asking him a million questions to make sure he wasn’t some psycho serial killer. It looked like he was taking us somewhere deserted. I never knew Evergreen was so far. I think the man knew I was testing him so he kept on telling us the speed limit ahead and the stores that were around. We realized what he said was true because everything was right. When we dropped him off we saw that he lived in a huge house. I guess it was coincidence that all the household cars broke down at the same time. My friend that had to sit in back with the Hitchhiker said I was messed up for making him sit in back with him. I responded by saying he was the biggest. He said that I would let him die first. It was a funny, nerve wrecking and interesting night. We made a joke out of it after we all knew we were safe. Now we look back and say we probably shouldn’t pick up a hitchhiker again. We were lucky.

Free Write- Shiny Object

George walked along the street one day, there he noticed out of the left corner of his eye a twinkling, shining object. Irresistible, George stopped. He looked to his right cautiously to see if anyone had noticed him. There sat a young lady near the escalator, she must have be waiting for the next train. Nervously stumbling to his left, George took a step closer. Thoughts and consequences streaked through his head, “What if someone sees? Do I look suspicious? How should I distract these wandering eyes?”

George took another step closer, this time stepping on his own foot. “What a klutz” he thought. But in this moment of near shame came forward great reward. For when he stumbled upon himself his right shoelace got untied. George was nearly overwhelmed with excitement at his sheer luck. “I will just slowly walk to the shinnying object and pretend to notice that my laces are untied and reach down and tie them back up”. His plan was set, now he need to act.

It was decided; George lifted his head, doing a steady and precise walk towards the object. He was there, the light at his very foot. Apprehensive, yet there was no turning back now. He reached down slyly and smoothly. He slowly tied his shoes, calculating each twisting and turning of the laces for the precise moment when to grab it. It was done the circular fragment was his. With a grin, George stood back up, looking back and forth, not a soul had noticed.

Something had changed in him that moment; something that gave him strength that he hadn’t had since childhood. He was determined; he looked back to his right the young lady waiting for train was still sitting patiently. George with his newfound swagger walked up to her and sat next to her. Beaming with confidence, he did something unexpected. Something un-George like. Unable to resist luck that filled the air that morning George asked Sarah out to dinner. The invitation was accepted.

The evening meal with Sarah was wonderful George thought. She was bright and intelligent. Their conversation was fluid, flowing from one subject to the next. “What a perfect evening” George thought. With the chocolate desert finished, the waiter brought out the bill. “So are you going to pay with that .25 cent quarter that I saw you goofly picking up earlier this morning?” Sarah said.

You Tube Clip

Turning into an Obsession

This ad isn’t selling, but it is telling a message through words. It copies the name of a perfume/cologne and uses it as its other meaning, Obsession. Instead of Obsession the fragrance, it’s actually obsession, meaning mania. The illustration shows a picture of a women’s body leaning over a toilet bowl and holding on to her stomach. Her back is faced to us, the audience. Through the black and sepia color scheme; the audience can see the bones in her back, indicating that she is too skinny. The women holding her body shows me that she is self conscious about her body and that she is in a lot of pain. The cause and effect of this ad is pointing out that there is too much pressure on women to have the nicest bodies and that bulimia has become an obsession for women. This appeals women trying to maintain that super model body. This parody uses the original ad by showing that the Ck Obsession models are really skinny and that their ads are setting a bad example for females to look exactly like the models on their ads. I think this ad is trying to get across, that this is the result and influence of the Ck ads on women. This ad is not cultural commentary because I don’t think the intended audience is one group of people, but this is to everyone, because women everywhere are conforming to bulimia. As a broader message I think this ad is saying don’t be forced to do this to oneself, because it’s not worth it. It will turn into an obsession.

Half Undressed

This ad has a great amount of sex appeal. The author of this ad chose to make this ad in black and white. These colors show shade and tints of the two models, Kate Moss and Marky Mark’s, bodies. On Marky Mark you can see how some of his upper body is highlighted. There are darker shades to better define his abs and muscular arms. Kate Moss has her face and the side of her body highlighted. Her legs are darker however. This Ck ad is definitely selling Ck underwear. It uses sex appeal by having the two models half undressed. Kate Moss wears no shirt, only white underwear with Calvin Klein imprinted on it. Marky Mark on the other hand, has jeans over his underwear, but his jeans are sagged down so you can still see the underwear and the brand name. The models barely having clothing on is really attention grabbing. Their bodies touch showing intimacy and romance. They have great looking bodies that the consumers would want to imitate. That’s how this ad sells. This ad is very appropriate even when sex appeal is used to advertise. Although the models are not fully dressed they are still covered and don’t bare everything to see. You can see much of their bodies, but not all of it. The model’s private parts are all covered. The lightest and brightest colors in this picture are of the underwear that the models are wearing. The words Calvin Klein are also in white advertising its name. This ad uses pathos through the models. The as shows how good theses models look in Ck underwear. It exaggerates how Ck under would look on people. Not everyone has a wonderful physique like these models, but this ad does an amazing job advertising its products.

Left Alone- Analysis

This picture uses dark and light colors to show contrast. Against each other they pop and stick out more. The tree branches are light brown and dark brown, and the leaves are light green and dark green. Behind it is a blue color that creates a glow in between the trees. It creates a mysterious and scary effect to this picture. The trees and the grasses that the children are on have a repetition. There are a lot of trees and a lot of grass. The alignment of the trees takes up most of the picture, but the children, the focal point, are balanced right in the middle of the trees and grass. They wear the lightest colors that are the most eye catching. The choice of material was wonderful, the artist chose two children. It seems persuading because the little girl who seems to be taking care of her little brother needs some sort of help. The little boy is lying on top of the little girls lap. She seems to have a grip on the little boy, providing him some what of comfort. She looks like she doesn’t know what to do and has nobody to help her. The argument is where is anybody else and why did they let these young children go off on their own. The message I get from the picture is to never let children who are young and ignorant go off alone in case they have an emergency. This was an interesting photo.

An Old Man- Reflection

This old man is near the end of his life and doesn’t even know it. He was born in a bad neighborhood and never had a chance to get out of it, to be bigger and better. He grew up around violence and poverty. There were few opportunities for people in the area to succeed and make something better for themselves. With no other way to escape this place, he did the only thing that he could do to survive. He became part of the violence and joined something he once said he didn’t want to be in, a gang. Being a gang member made him feared by many. He thought that this was a way of life. He felt dominate and in control of things. The man’s drug uses took a major toll on him physically and mentally. As he aged his way of life did too. The dirty money, friends, and enemies started to fade away. Now he walks near a wall holding a cigarette. In his eyes is what looks like fear and secrets. There is a sign on the wall in front of him warning him that once he turns the corner, what’s waiting for him is a boy looking for revenge for his own father. The old man had killed the boy’s father in the past and the boy wanted to avenge his father’s death. This sign was made from shadows of branches from a tree near by. This man’s time is almost here and finally he will get to rest in peace.

Observations of a Beach

A lady stands before a man lying on the beach. The man has broad shoulders and big arms. The upper half of his body is tan and the lower half of his body is not. He holds himself up with his arms while he gazes out into the ocean and the sky. His long blonde hair is blown by the wind. The sky seems dark and grey and the sun is nowhere to be found. Under the man is a blue towel with red, green, and yellow stripes running horizontally through it. Next to his towel is the lady’s towel which has yellow and white stripes running through it vertically. On her towel are her beach bag and a red coat. On the other side of her towel is another person’s towel. That person is another female who is running toward the beach. The female has a light blue towel with darker blues stripes running vertically through it. From that person’s towel are foot prints of her own going towards the ocean. The female has brunette hair also being blown by the wind. The female is naked and has an hour glass shape. Her arms sways as her feet start to touch the ocean. Meanwhile the lady near the man starts unbuttoning her black blouse from bottom to top. She wears black and white floral print shorts below her blouse as she stares off into another object on the beach. She starts undressing to conform to the other nude beings that are on the beach with her.

What if That Stranger Hit and Killed Me?

I was watching a documentary on HBO the other day called, SMASHED: Toxic Tales of Teens and Alcohol. This boy showed up at a party where a lot of his buddies were. What was also at the party was alcohol. The “cool” thing to do was to give into peer pressure and drink; the teenage boy couldn’t resist and he gave in. One drink led to another and as time passed by, so did the consumption of alcohol by party goers and the teenage boy. It finally got to the end of the night and the last drink the teenage boy had was hours ago. His friends and he were confident and sure that he was okay to drive home. Before he knew it, that stupid decision changed his life forever.

As the show went on I started to think about how this could happen to anyone. I’m really against drunk driving so I thought about loved ones that I know who drink and drive. I was sitting on the couch watching this helpless boy lay in the hospital bed, his eyes shut with blood everywhere. He didn’t even look like a human. Millions of tubes were connected to him sending him necessities for his own survival. His mother cried hysterically in the arms of his father who was trying to stay strong. The teenage boy was in shock trauma for eight days, and each hour, minute, and second the family stood there preying for his life. Luckily, he survived, but dying may have been easier. The simple things like walking, talking and moving had to be relearned. His long term memory turned short and his personality completely changed. Seeing the struggle that this teenage boy and his family went through made me realize so many things. I couldn’t imagine anything like this happening to someone I know, let alone someone close; whether they live or die, they’re different and still lost.

When people make the decision to drink and drive they don’t realize they are jeopardizing their own lives, but others as well. They should know that they can hit another person and kill that person or kill a passenger in the car with them. Jeopardizing lives doesn’t necessarily mean someone else having to die, but it can affect other people’s lives. The documentary showed how the parents and the teenage boy’s family stressed mentally and physically over the tragic accident. They took time off of work to care for their son and at the same time lost a lot of money because of the hospital bills and insurance. They also had to care for their child when he was going through rehabilitation. The teenager’s parents had to deal with a son who couldn’t be independent. The lives for friends and family will have changed too.

The Statistics on Drinking and Driving among Teens says that eight teens die a day due to drunk driving. That’s a lot! Some teenagers don’t think about the consequences to their own actions. If something did happen to them then I think it’s their own fault. When I was watching the documentary, in the back of my head I thought that they got what they deserved and it’s their own fault. I felt bad because it was a mean thought, but if you think about it there are so many ads, signs, and people telling teenagers about the cause and effect of drunk driving. Most of these drink drivers say that they’ve driven drunk before, but they never thought it would actually happen to them. They’re ignorant for thinking that it wouldn’t happen to them, it could happen to anyone.

I put myself in the shoes of the victims in the fatal car accidents caused by drunken teens and felt so much resentment. If someone close to me died, I don’t know if I could learn to forgive or let go of the grudge for that drunken teen. Although I think what I feel for them would fade with time, but I would never forget it.

This documentary had a great impact on me and seeing true stories of the risk of drinking and driving was enlightening. Whenever I hear about someone drinking and driving I’d rather find a safe ride home for them. I wish everyone could stop and think before they drink and drive. So every time I’m in my car there is always that thought that pops into my head, I can prevent loved ones from drinking and driving, but I can’t prevent a stranger from drinking and driving and what if that stranger hit and killed me?

Sick of Snow

It took me a while to figure out what to write about. I love doing free writes because there is so much that you can write about and express, but sometimes having a prompt or topic makes it easier to figure out what it is you’re talking about. So after a long time of deriving and contemplating, I found something passionate and hopefully not too controversial.
Snow, don’t get me wrong, but I love snow. It’s pretty to see once you haven’t seen it in a long time, but as some of you might agree, enough is enough! I can name many reasons why I’m so against the snow, but I’ll start with what I like. The first snow storm was wonderful. I didn’t have to work for a whole week and got my hopes up thinking that I was going able to relax. I was wrong. I had to shovel what seemed like every minute because the snow kept on falling, by the end of the week, groceries needed to be bought and the only thing to eat was: canned soup, crackers, and cereal without milk.
Finally, when the snow started melting another snow storm came. This continued for about seven weeks. When there was not enough snow to keep me from going to work, I had to endure the ride to work. The roads were horrible. My car slid on black ice countless times. I ran into plenty of pot holes and had to be washed many of times to clean off all the chemicals CDOT pours down on the roads to melt the ice. I was on my way to school once and there are roads that go downhill. All of the sudden the bus in front of two other cars stopped. For the record there wasn’t a bus stop in sight. I guess something was wrong with the bus. The car in back of the bus stopped, but the car in front of me couldn’t. I think he slid into the sidewalk or the car into the in front of him. I was sliding and couldn’t stop in back of them so I switched lanes really quick. I barely avoided a multiple car wreck. I was really fortunate!
So I’m glad to hear that this upcoming week is supposed to be nice and warm. I’m looking forward to the heat and better driving conditions. It’ll make it a lot easier to walk around campus. I can’t wait for the summer to come, hopefully it doesn’t snow anymore. Spring break is in about a week, and then before we know it, it’ll be summer!

Image Online That's Interesting

Walking up to this piece of art is really confusing. What looks like a guy about to jump of a diving board into a waterfall is actually unreal. It is just an illusion. The artist who created this masterpiece tricks people with his 3-D art. If I walked up to this and came down the stairs I would take a step and jump back because I would be so scared to fall into this waterfall. I guess more fear would be because I don’t know how to swim. I would also be confused because I would have thought to myself I was just walking on a cemented side walk and the next thing I know is that I’m coming up to a waterfall.

In this piece of art the man jumping of the diving board looks so real. He wears stripped swimming trunks with a watch on his wrist. His facial expression and posture looks like he is really about to take the plunge. The waterfall coming off the stairs also creates water ripples on the flat land. The shading and coloring of the artwork is what creates the 3-D effect. From the side of the wall there are pillars drawn to make the building next to the artwork seem like it is being held up above the water. On the pillars there is a green color which portrays the age of the building and the artwork. It looks like the artist used chalk or pastels to create the artwork. I find this image so interesting; I wish I could see this image for myself in real life.

HW Week 2-19-07

The blog that I’ve read from Fimoculous’ “Best Blogs of 2006 That (Maybe) You Aren’t Reading is really informative. The title of each blog states the main point of what the blog is going to be about. The blog I read in this section I was assigned has a purpose to inform the reader about something. The blog I read taught me something new with each post. Things that I’ve learned that are new to me is that there is such thing as Monkeytown, which is a film venue in New York, Wikipedia has a Debatepedia, Princeton partnered up with Google for a library project, also Belgian newspapers sued and won a case against Google. The blog writer really did do their research. The reader gets a full understanding that the writer really does know what he/she is talking about. The writer gives us the idea of the main point and goes on to explain about the main point. The blog seems to be written like an essay or an article. The blog is like a report coming out of a newspaper. It really does inform. In the blogs there are also hyperlinks linking to a site that gives the reader a more in depth and broader understanding of what the writer is talking about. As mentioned above, the new things I learned also have hyperlinks. There are hyperlinks that link you to the Monkeytown website, Debatepedia’s website, the partnership between Princeton and Google, and also the lawsuit filed against Google from the Belgian newspapers. The links are helpful and direct the reader to other sites if you wanted to know more information on the subject. There are also many more hyperlinks on the blog I read. The way the blog ends off is with a conclusion that wraps up all the information given in each post. The posts end with questions, quotes, and even the writer’s opinion or thoughts on the subject.

The blog that I was assigned to read and analyze differ from my own blog a lot. My blog is really more laid back and really opinionated; whereas the assigned blog is more serious and factual. My blog just rambles on and on like it is my own personal diary but online though. The way I can incorporate these differences into my own blog is to make my posts in my blog more serious and not make it seem like an online diary by adding more information and facts. It would also be more helpful if I added more hyperlinks so the reader can get a better understanding of what it is that I am talking about. Reading the assigned blog taught me more about writing blogs because before this class I’ve never written a blog.

Observational Essay: It's a Side Job

I circle this place for five minutes until I decide to go to the next street down, Lincoln and Ninth, to park my car. As I get out, I immediately regret wearing heels because there are many puddles that I have to dodge. I walk up to the building and from the outside glows luminous lights that are changing colors. In front of these doors, familiar smiles form on the faces of the big macho bouncers that I’ve met before. We exchange our Hi’s and they open the door to let me in. I walk in and look around. The building has a round shape and the lounge chairs are as white as snow, set to perfection looking like an actual airplane inside. Plasma screens are built into the walls and a huge projection screen is on the stage replaying images advertising DC10.

DC10 is a bar that I work at doing coat check; it’s a side job where I earn extra money. DC10 refers to the name of a specific type of airplane model. The inside of the bar resembles a luxury private plane. The cocktail waitresses wear cute little black and gold stewardess outfits. Near the door a sign reads, “Baggage Claim- Coat Check” and an arrow points to a door whose top half is cut off. I walk into this little box which is referred to as the coat check room. Along the cream colored brick walls are coat racks and what seems like millions of hangers hanging on them. I see a table on one side of the wall which has the bank and in it lays two hundred dollars as change money. On the other side of my coat check door is a sign saying,” Coat Check - Three Dollars” and next to it is a big clear bucket with a sign in front of it saying, “Tips Appreciated.” For customers to get the hint I put some bills in it before hand.

An hour passes by and the time is only 10:30 pm, “This place doesn’t pick up until 11 or 11:30pm”, or at least that’s what I heard from the cologne sprayer in the men’s bathroom. Surely time goes by; my first shock of the night is a transvestite. He puts his make up on better than I do and probably most girls too. He still needs a little more practice walking in his four inch heels as he walked up to give a friend of mine, the manager, a hug. As I look past them, I see the door men spotting that out too and they wait until the transvestite leaves to start clowning on the manager. The manager tries to defend himself but he miserably fails.

As the night goes on I stand at the door watching people interact. There are different kinds of people with their own personal styles. I wonder about everyone, they all have a story behind them, and checking in their coats only shows how cheap or generous they are. I go out for a smoke break and talk to a bouncer. I found out that he was a high school teacher, teaching math by day and a bouncer by night.

It finally hits 12 am and I start seeing underage acquaintances that should be at home with their babies. Instead they are here getting drunk and knocking over my coat check sign and tip jar. They are completely wasted and smell like alcohol as they try to get their coats checked and talk very loudly and obnoxiously. This guy was standing there yelling out, "That's real talk, that's real talk" for no apparent reason. Not to mention you can see a lot of make up caked onto girl's faces. It’s also a shame that girls can’t fit into the clothes that they choose to wear. I see a lot of girls with clothes on that are way too tight for them. Their meat is hanging over their belt and every few seconds I see them struggling to pull up their pants. It wasn’t a pleasant sight.

By the end of the night people start filing out and coat check starts to get busy. By this time, everyone is drunk. My tip jar starts to fill up with all this green paper. I hear the manager announce, “Last call for alcohol,” and people hurry to the bar to get their last drink. As the night starts to wind down, and everyone is asked to leave and I look back and see that all the coats are gone. Just as I thought the night was over, suddenly a fight breaks out. For about thirty seconds, it was complete chaos. The most memorable moment of the fight was when the bouncer picked up one of the guys by the neck and carried him out with his legs dangling off the ground. I thought the fight was over until I saw the bouncer and management run out the door to try and get the license plate numbers. A guy ran in and yelled, “There’s another fight.” Sadly I didn’t get the information on the events that occurred outside.

I counted the money and calculated my total for the night, tipped out, and was waiting to be checked out. The wait took forever because of the fight. I watched as everyone lent a helping hand to clean up the bar. Finally, I was checked out and made a total of one hundred and forty eight dollars for my five hours of work, not bad. I was walking out and a bouncer asked if I needed to be escorted to my car because it was 2:30 in the morning and I had to walk to a different street alone. I declined his offer and said I should be fine. I lit up my last cigarette of the night and made my way home to get some sleep for another days work tomorrow.

Writing Assignment Week 4

Randomly Selected Words: abacus, baccarat, cinchona, ducat, eim, fructose, gratis, helve, igloo, jasper, kileg, lei, mire, navel, onion, panatela, quiche, rancho, sangria, travail, ugli, villa, wahoo, xerox, yen, zen

In 1946, a contest held in Tokyo, pitted an abacus against an electric calculator; the abacus won, of course. Baccarat is a gambling card game. Cinchona is a genus of about 25 species in the family Rubiaceae, native to tropical South America. They are large shrubs or small trees growing to 5-15 metres tall with evergreen foliage. The EIM website does not aim to give any type of advice. Fructose (or levulose) is a simple sugar (monosaccharide) found in many foods and is one of the three most important blood sugars along with glucose and galactose. Gratis is an adjective in Latin and various Romance and Germanic languages meaning "free," in the sense that one does not have to pay for some good or service (free of charge). Your Wiha Tool Source Complete Inventory. An igloo (Inuktitut iglu / ᐃᒡᓗ, "house", plural: iglooit or igluit), translated sometimes as snowhouse, is a shelter constructed from blocks of snow, generally in the form of a dome. That big oil slick in your driveway or those strange noises from under your hood don't have to mean you'll be saddled with a new car payment soon. We had our team building last saturay.we went to pansol laguna. Welcome to the nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute. A viscous, usually offensively dirty substance. Navel, also called a belly button or umbilicus, is a scar on the abdomen, caused when the umbilical cord is removed from a newborn baby. Michigan's unemployment system had outlasted the state's automotive and industrial sectors as the most enduring job provider. A slim, long cigar, it's small diameter limits it to one or two kinds of tobacco. Even Real Men Eat Quiche. The RSI-SAS36EXP is a 36-port, 3 Gigabit Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Expander. Welcome to my Sangria Page! Painful or arduous work; severe toil or exertion. This tangelo is a variety of citrus fruit grown exclusively in Jamaica and exported by Trout Hall Ltd. to markets all over the world. The idea and function of a villa has evolved considerably since its invention towards the end of the Roman Republic. Located in the heart of Saunders County, Nebraska, Wahoo sits just 30 minutes west of Omaha, 30 minutes north of Lincoln, and 30 minutes south of Fremont. An experienced graduate? The yen may fall after Bank of Japan board member Hidehiko Haru said there's no need to rush interest- rate increases, rejecting criticism ... Zen is a form of Mahayana Buddhism that places great importance on moment-by-moment awareness and 'seeing deeply into the nature of things' by direct experience.

Observing at DC10

I’ve been asked to do coat check at DC10 once and only have done it once. Coat check is when I work as a person and give you a number for your coat and you can come back at the end of the night give me the number and redeem your coat. The way that I’ve been connected to this job opportunity is through the manager of DC10. I know the manager from my older sister, who is really close friends with him. Sometimes they need a fill in and since I need the extra money I accepted it, with the thought that I could also do my observational essay on this. There is a huge opportunity to observe a variety of different people. These people are drunk, sober, happy, angry, sad, and even sick (They are any emotion that you could possibly think of).
I’m glad to tell you, my audience, or classmates in Mr. Ware’s English class about my experiences doing coat check at DC10. I hope my audience finds my observations interesting and funny, and hopefully no one gets offended about my opinion on people that I observe because this would clearly be my opinion, and I am not trying to disrespect or offend anyone. If I put myself in the shoes of my audience I would want a lot of information. I would ask: how did you get the job, what is coat check, do you get tips, how do you get paid, is it fun, what are your coworkers like, what if someone loses their coat check number, etc?.
Researching the subject is interesting to me because when I go to the clubs I’m what you would call a “wall flower,” who stands near the wall and rarely makes my way to the dance floor to dance. So clubs and bars are not really my thing, but I love observing others and my surroundings. Observing this subject is also an advantage because I could kill two birds with one stone, working and doing school work at the same time. I’m expecting to find out what it is like to cater to people who are intoxicated and watch people mingling together; like the saying, “Denver is the best place for singles”. I also hope to make a lot of tips when I work. That’s why I hope everyone gets drunk so they don’t realize what bill they are putting into the tip jar.
Also working coat check, I can also observe the whole bar/lounge. I can see what it looks like interior and exterior. Since I’ve been there once I can tell you why it’s called DC 10. DC 10 is a type of airplane model. The inside is supposed to resemble the inside of a plane; I think they did a great job with it.
I’ve been asked to work once a week so I think that will set a properly timed so called, “interviews” for this observational essay. This is going to be a great subject to observe and I hope I’m going to find so great observations.

Warning: This may not be humorous to you and contains some adult content.

Peter's Prostate Exam

I was watching Family Guy on T.V. once and saw a really funny episode. For those of you who haven’t heard of or watched this show, here is a little background information. This is a comedy about an everyday American family. The members of the family are: Peter, the father of the family who doesn’t take responsibility seriously, but instead loves to get drunk, Louis, the mother who plays the role of a stay at home mom, Meg, the daughter which is a the outcast and always is forgotten, Chris is the son whose the oldest child that has a pet monkey, Brian is the talking family dog who like Peter loves to drink and is secretly in love with Louis, Stewie (my favorite) is the evil baby genius who is plotting for world domination. I know you’re probably thinking that there are a lot of funny episodes on family guy, but this is my all time favorite. This Youtube clip is from the show where Peter was forced to get a prostate exam by his wife.
In this clip it begins with Peter and his Doctor in the doctor’s office. Peter is then asked to bend over the table and with complete shock Peter screams and jumps away from the doctor holding his butt to the cabinet and then the walls. He yells to the doctor what the hell he was doing with his finger up Peter’s butt hole and the doctor responds by saying that that was part of a prostate exam. Peter storms out of the office running home with his pants down. He gets home and tells Louis but gets mad at her for saying the same thing the doctor said. He runs up stairs and on his way gets traumatized by the T.V. which has a bunch of commercials with fingers in it and his son and monkey holding up fingers. Then they’re at a court room where Peter is testifying against the doctor. In his testament he claims that the doctor was kissing his neck and feeling around his butt and squeezing it. The judge had also got a prostate from the same doctor and didn’t remember it being so bad until Peter asked him to think about it again and convincing to change his mind. The judge imagines himself being harassed and pounds the gavel saying that the doctor was guilty.
As a member of a boarder online community the context of this video clip affects me by making my stomach hurt because laughing too hard. This clip over exaggerates Peter’s experience with his first prostate exam. I don’t think in reality anyone would actually go as far as Peter did. The person that posted the clip on Youtube did alter it by cutting out the dialogue and events that weren’t as funny and skipping to the hilarious parts. The clip still shows the events in order though. This clip is humorous because it targets many age groups that can relate to it in many ways. The ways it relates to people is through their own experience or what they imagine it to be like. This clip illustrates how I imagine a prostate would be like and shows a great over exaggeration on the thought of getting prostate exams.

All About Victoria's Site

Victoria Secret’s website has an easy to understand context. Everything is really self-explanatory. When you enter the website you can see at the top right corner of the screen is a search box. So if you know what you want you can enter it in the box and the website will take you to the closest result it could find to your request. At the top row of the screen it has links to the home page, how to order, customer service {if you need assistance with something), sign up for their email, their account (if you signed up for one), and the shopping bag (whatever you have already selected to buy). The next row down shows their products which consist of: bras, panties, sleep wear, clothing, shoes, swim suits, beauty products and their sales and specials. If you are looking for one of those things you can click on the link and find what you want.
Victoria Secret is a store that mostly sells lingerie, that is there main item and everything else revolves around it. They sell these products to enhance people’s looks or self esteem. The fragrances and beauty products also help you smell good and pleasing. The winter clothing did a great favor me and kept me plenty warm for all the snow storms we’ve been having this winter. A big misconception about Victoria Secret is that it only sales fancy lingerie, that’s not it though, they actually sell regular and plain under garments too. Anybody can buy their products because they have a variety of sizes and styles to suit your preference; if you don’t like what you see then this probably isn’t the store for you. You can order anything from this site and they will deliver it to you. There also the actual stores you can go to by using the store locator and finding out a close store you can go to. The website is open to anyone at anytime unless there are technical difficulties.
If someone can’t comprehend the reference of this web site then maybe it might be a good idea to use the customer service link. If they are no help then it would affect Victoria Secret’s message. However, I don’t think it would be hard for anyone to understand how to use Victoria Secret’s site. It is pretty easy and complex to find what you are looking for.
It’s good that this web site is really easy to understand (for me) because if it wasn’t then I probably wouldn’t want to visit this web site at all or shop here. I think that if they made it difficult and complicated to use their web site, people probably wouldn’t want to visit this web site. A web site should be easy to comprehend so that all its visitors can clearly understand and get what the web site is all about. The Victoria Secret web site clearly gives me a full understanding of how to find what I want and gives me a fantastic understanding of its content.

Victoria Secret's Wonderful Website

Being that I am not a really computer friendly person the few times I use the internet, I tend to visit the Victoria Secret website. You probably already know of this website is, but if not I’ll explain. Right when you get to Victoria Secret’s home page you get the hint of what it’s all about. Not only does it sell under garments, but also clothing, shoes, swimsuits, and beauty products. Victoria Secret allows you to look through recent catalogs to discover the latest fashions.
This website has a variety of different garments and garment covers that come in all different sizes, designs, and colors; you’re guaranteed to find something that you like, let alone love. On the other hand the clothing is wonderful. Victoria’s clothing is made for each and every season. Many of their under garments are really intimate, sexy, and romantic, but they are classy. If you ask me I would probably wear ninety percent of their clothing. I wouldn’t wear the other ten percent because I’m not a super model and don’t have the assets to pull it off.
Victoria secret’s website consists of: bras, panties, sleep wear, clothing, shoes, swim wear, and beauty products. Each product has a picture to show you what it actually looks like and what it would look like in a different color or print. If the picture is too small for you to see they also give you an opportunity to check out the image in a larger view or at different angles of the clothing or product.
The magazine for Victoria Secret is different from the website because it is less advanced. For example it doesn’t show you the sales and specials in one category; you got to look around for it and keep your eye open. Also, you can’t look over different catalogs where as online you can look up different issues of catalogs. There is also a search, so you can find exactly what you want faster. Another advantage is that when you order online your order processes faster. If you mailed in an order it would take longer to receive your purchase. The website has links to find what you want faster saving you time rather then flipping through each page of a magazine looking for what you want. Overall, Victoria Secret’s website is more advanced then its catalog.
I absolutely love this website, but it also has its flaws. There are only skinny models shown, which is really frustrating because everyone doesn’t have the nice slim body, I wished there would be plus size models to create some kind of a balance. Finding the right size for yourself is also difficult because you wait so long in anticipation to find out that you have the wrong size and have to send it back in to get another size. When looking at the fragrances and body products you can’t smell it, like in reality. However, flaws or no flaws, I’ll still love visiting this website because I’m really into their products and enjoy shopping here.