Those Were the Blogs of Our Lives

Wow. To echo what I said in my first blog from the beginning of the school year, "You have NO idea what it took to get here!" The process that went into making my blogs is fascinating in retrospect, seeing how I worked whatever was influencing me at the time into my blog. I doubt anyone remembers much about my personal development across the year, but I can see clearly stages of my own development worked into individual blogs. For example, I stated that I had a closet full of legos in my second blog about Boo Radley, very similar to something I talked about much at the beginning of the year.

I can also see how I worked things that I experienced in middle school into my posts. The blog about Scout mentions how I wrote a speech about NCLB. Something which was probably still pretty recent in my mind at the time. Something that keeps coming up over and over again is how I read War and Peace though. It seems every other blog I wrote had something about how I compared The Count of Monte Cristo with War and Peace, or Great Expectations with War and Peace. its a shame I used Bon Jovi instead of War and Peace for Romeo and Juliet.

It also illustrates the personality I tried to put into my blog. Like that time I talked about crushing tiny rebellions in my titanium fist in the "The skill I've learned" blog. Though I must be honest, that blog feels in retrospect like I was praising my knowledge of TvTropes foremost. Also, there's that "Formal vs. informal diction" post, which really conveys a lot of information about myself. It also actually contained deep information that makes perfect sense if you have the same background as I do. Of course, lets face it, I don't think there's anyone who would possibly be reading this blog who would say that truly.

Indeed, I think the culmination of this whole blog assignment was to express me and my personality. This blog represents a chunk of me in the form of writing. Its more than a bunch of hurried and rushed assignments written for school, its something I poured my figurative soul into to create a gigantic screaming beast which cry's, "I, am, AARON!" There were many good times to be had across the year, and I enjoyed the writing of many a blog post before, trying to inscribe a deeper bit of myself into it. Surprisingly, I haven't made a single Queen reference yet this entire blog, so I must say that the song lyrics which describe this project and my feeling for it are put perfectly here,

"Those were the days of our lives
When bad things in life were so few
Those days are all gone now, but one thing is true,
When I look, and I find,
I still love you."

Oh yes, I forgot one more element of this blog: Its over. This is the last time I will have to make a deadline at such a ridiculous last moment that the rate of my fingers typing is so fast that I swear I see barely a blur. The last time I'll wake up at 11:37 the night it's due thinking, "Oh, CARP!" It'll be swell, but as they say, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

-Aaron

My memorable assignment

My most memorable assignment was actually one I hate hated. however, the blog states it should be memorable that shows our talents. I believe it did that. The assignment of course, was when we had to write a paper about naming a colour after something. Of course, I misunderstood the assignment and thought we had to write a paper naming the colour after yourself. Thus, I had to think of a justification for naming my colour Aaron. Naturally I did my fallback, and worked under the guise of Aaron Incorporated, or AaronINC.

Of course, that was extremely punny. I was writing about naming it after my company, but it was also AaronINC as in Aaron ink. The funny thing is I wrote it before school hurridly on a piece of notebook paper and totally didn't realize the pun until after I wrote it. I thought it was terrible, and when we read them in groups I thought mine was horrendous. Then Mathew got ahold of it. Ignoring my protests, he turned it in for the contest in class, and somehow I won with that terrible piece. It may seem contradictory, but looking back I'm pretty proud of my ability to rushingly write something and somehow despite the bad quality of the writing win a contest. However, the main thing I will always be proud of, the climax of this blog, the entire purpose of my love for that assignment, is that accidental pun. Oh yeah Aaron, I had no idea you could be such a punster without even realizing it. Aaron ink. Genius. Good job Aaron.

-Humbly yours, Aaron

My feelings on poetry

Indeed, I believe most people have had experiences with that word. The dreaded "P" word. I am of course speaking about poetry.

I think poetry is famous because of the wide depth of emotions it is capable of bringing about. In middle school my class was often given poems to read, and the intended meanings were extremely diverse. One poem, for example, would be trying to call you to action about something the poet considers important. Another would simply be trying to be clever. I unfortunately, am not always interested in said poems because often I don't agree with the opinion the author of the poem is trying to convey. My favorite poems are usually the ones that make me smile.

I mean, sure "doom and gloom" are supposed to be great for my age group, (or so they tell me) but poems that make me laugh, such as the likes of Shel Silverstein's can be both enjoyable, and if a poet works hard enough, also still have that underlying message. That's where real positive value comes from reading poetry, when you can enjoy it, and you get something about of it. Sometimes, simply laughing at something is an excellent way to help yourself.

Honestly though, I'm not all fond of poetry in general. Call me shallow, but I find many people's opinions of worth of some poems as extravagant at best. Still, if they wish to read something, its their descision.

-Aaron

Conflict in Romeo and Juliet

There are many conflicts present throughout Romeo and Juliet. The one I am choosing to focus on is the conflict between Romeo and Tybalt. Romeo crashes the party at the Capulet establishment and is discovered by Tybalt. Though he cannot attack him then because Capulet forbids it, he later searches Romeo out. Tybalt then comes and challenges Romeo. However, Mercutio steps in in his place and is ultimately stricken down. This leads Romeo to get revenge by killing Tybalt. This conflict is person vs. person, seeing as it is between Romeo and Tybalt, but it also extends to family vs. family because Tybalt's reasoning for attacking Romeo is because of the feud between their two houses. This conflict is important because it shows the lengths Tybalt and his house are willing to go through to attack the Montagues, showing the huge amount of hate between the houses and later showing how powerful the force of the death of Romeo and Juliet to stop the fighting.

This conflcit can be related to because we always have someone who really annoys us. They may not know, or are even doing it on purpose, but they are still really exasperating. Oftentimes in real life this can lead us to violence or insults trying to get away from that one person. However, I think the play shows a good representation of how this is a bad idea, and how resorting to this only makes things worse and sometimes hurts those around you as well.

Overall, stabbing your enemies isn't always the best idea.

-Aaron

Romeo and Juliet and culture

The story of Romeo and Juliet is something engraved deep within culture today. Movies, books, and all forms of entertainment have many references to it. Some are more abstract, such as Don't Fear the Reaper, mentioning the deaths of the characters. Others are more direct, such as Bon Jovi's "I'd die for You"
stating:

"In a world that don't know Romeo & Juliet
Boy meets girl and promises we can't forget
We are cast from Eden's gate with no regrets
Into the fire we cry

I'd die for you
I'd cry for you
I'd do anything
I'd lie for you
You know its true
Baby I'd die for you"

or Dire straits "Romeo and Juliet" about, you guessed it, Romeo and Juliet!

Personally I find it really funny and ironic because so many forms of media portray Romeo and Juliet as a beautiful love story about two people willing to do anything for one another, including dying. I personally thought the story had other themes related to the folly of infatuation. Romeo was quite literally just as deeply in "love" with another girl literally the day before he even realized Juliet existed, and yet they decide marriage is a great idea? However, another part of me is sad, because sometimes I do think that all society values today is attractiveness and that liking how someone looks is just as good as love. Perhaps its always been that way, but I can only interpret as my own mind dictates.

Referecing obscure Bon Jovi songs... where is this blog going? I think the direction was more amusing when I blabbered on about War and Peace.

-Aaron

My connections with the characters of Romeo and Juliet

I think I can connect with a few aspects of many characters, but on the other hand I have a hard time connecting with the way the characters deal with their lives. In particular I would focus on the emotions felt by the characters. Even more specifically, Romeo. Romeo is completely infautuated with Rosaline, a girl he barely knows. I think almost everyone can connect with a feeling of desire for one person, especially as one grows through the teenage years. Indeed, often a simple desire can turn your life to paste as you dwell on it, and if you are convinced that said person will never "love" you back, its easy to feel like its the end of the world. How could I ever "love" again if this truly beautiful person doesn't care for me? Now that I have seen them, no substitute will ever be acceptable. Naturally I can also connect with the part afterwards where Romeo completely forgets about his old love and moves on. In one sense, it the end of a world, a world you created in your mind where everythings is great, then it dissolves in one fluid motion (no pun intended) just as fast as it arrived.

I believe that reading at home is a good way to see what you're going to talk about in class, but honestly I don't really find the need to work really hard to understand difficult concepts because I know we'll talk about them in class. I do the reading, get the general plot, and try to understand what's being said, but if I can't figure it out I usually just wait to see what the teacher has to say about it. As such, the reading in class is extremely useful for getting a clear picture of whats going on. I would also say as I read more Shakespeare it is indeed becoming easier to understand the next part.

-Aaron

Message of Great Expectations

My feelings on the message of the book are pretty simple. They relate to the key word of the title. Expectations.

Throughout your life, you always have desires. You want this, or you want that. Often, its really superficial what you want. As children, you also often have great senses of self-entitlement. You think you deserve this, or you deserve that. Maybe you think your parents ought to buy you this, or you deserve to go hang out with your friends. No matter how big or small, you expect things to turn your way. However, often what you want isn't whats really best for you. You can spend a long time pursuing something only to discover its not what you wanted, or that you've actually destroyed your life in the process. The book is about the comparison between what you expect, and what you actually recieve. What the book is saying about that idea is that you need to watch out, because many times what you want is not the best thing for you. You need to ponder and consider what you're life choices will do to you.

Anyways, that's it fairly simple.

-Aaron

My thoughts on reading

Charles Dicken's Great Expectations. Another classic under my belt. I guess there's something to be said about that. However, this post is about my reactions, so I guess I'll start.

This book treated me fairly well. It wasn't really long, and it kept me mostly interested enough of the time to keep it from becoming overly tedious. Dicken's writing was certainly not hurtful to the eyes, and I enjoyed more than one part. However, I must be honest that I really didn't sympathize with any of the characters. I may have mentioned in many of my blogs and in class explanations that Pip acted like an ignorant child for the first third of the novel, which could have been endearing at first, but as he grew it up he did not gain any more intelligence, and he really just struck me as being stupid at quite a few parts. For example, he could have, you know, noticed that Estella was out to get him. Love is illogical apparently. My predicitions, outside of the alien ones, were actually fairly accurate. At least I can respect that the plot didn't stretch my suspension of disbelief like so many current novels do. (I'm looking at you Harry.)

Indeed, I did read the whole novel. I was pretty good about following the schedule at first, then I usually read in chunks, reading a couple days ahead. Before the last week, I basically said "forget that" and finished the novel. Sometimes I read in the morning, but I actually finished the novel between bands during a festival. I think it was more satisfying for me to get that instant gratification of solving mysterys and getting squicked out by odd marriages.

Still, such a disappointment that my rather outlandish predictions were false. I'm sure that can be corrected in a alternate version. It would have made things much more interesting.

-Aaron

Photo comparison

For my photo, I chose a picture of a small plant in some soil.

The connection is fairly obvious. Pip was like a small seed in the beginning of the novel, but he wanted to grow into something larger. He wanted to become a huge tree like one of the Redwoods. The problem was that he couldn't grow without a base, without soil to sustain him. When he got his inheritance, thats what he got, a base that would let him have the potential to grow over time and become strong. The money he recieved let him become part of the upper class like he had always wanted, and due to that he became "strong" and grew.

Of course, you must also consider what becomes of a plant if the soil runs out of nutrients and the rain stops falling to replenish it as it wilts.

-Aaron

Late: Second stage of Great Expectations

While the second stage of the book is indeed, very boring, it also contains a lot of useful information and contrasts that I think (will) give a better understanding and respect of what happens in the third stage, and reflect on what happened in the first stage. New characters like Herbert and Mr. Wemmick illustrate the new life Pip lives and the contrast between his new life and the old. It shows how he's moved on, and how he forgets about his old life. After Mrs. Joe dies, Pip states very clearly, "I'm never going back." Other characters like Mr. Jaggers or just the minor character of a prisoner in Newgate also draw comparisons.

The one motif I think is particularly important is that of guilt. His new friends as mentioned above show how he tries to forget about his old life by being happy with his new friends. He states that when he is in Mr. Wemmick's "castle", he feels seperate from the outside. He enjoys escaping his problems for a little while. Meanwhile, he knows all of his problems arose because he tried so hard to become part of the upper class, and now regrets it. An interesting comparison in my opinion is how Pip goes to Newgate and means the Colonel, a prisoner. When he goes out to meet Estella, he thinks about how "seperate" a jail is and how he hopes Estella will never see him in one. However, despite his contrast of the two, his life right now could be compared to a jail, as he is played by Estella and has huge debts. Indeed, he goes on and realizes that his new life has ensnared him more then he could have ever possibly expected.

-Aaron

Late: Responding to quotation

This quote probably would have struck me no where near as important on reading it the first time then it does now, where I have much more of the perspective of "narrator" Pip to go on.

When Pip says that he has started a chain, he means his involvement with Estella and Ms. Havisham. In one day, he goes from a young boy looking forward to the "larks" of being a blacksmith with Joe in a decent Joe, to having to rebuild his old shattered dreams into something new so he can aspire to a higher level. Over the course of the next few chapters, Pip life actually approves. For example, he becomes an appprentice. However, instead of taking joy in his life's new direction, he simply thinks about how he wants to live with Estella. He leaves those who he currently knows behind so he can aspire to higher levels. Overall, it demonstrates a rather selfish change in Pip.

I'd say my chain started when I started to get into "higher" educations. When I was really young, I had no aspirations. I hoped I would play with LEGO's for the rest of my life, and that would be that. However, as I learn more and more about different things, I can look forward with deeper ambitions. True, everyone has to have an education, but I could have taken it as a lazy jock who only ever does the bare minimum. I hope I've turned out slightly better then that.

-Aaron

Late: Great Expectations: Question:

From chapters 1-7, that chapters the blog was supposed to be about, there were many questions. However, one that still sticks out for me is present in chapter 4 when the family is sitting around criticizing Pip.

"'Besides,' said Mr. Pumblechook, turning sharp on me, 'think what you've got to be grateful for. If you'd been born a squeaker--' 'He was, if ever a child was,' said my sister, most emphatically. Joe gave me some more gravy. 'Well, but I mean a four-footed squaker,' said Mr. Pumblechook."

I'm sure to the ears of the original audience this made perfect sense, but to my 21st century eares this lingo is still rather odd. I'm sure there's something to be said about Pip and his appearance from their description, but I don't know what it is.

Of course, I'm sure there's nothing one google search can't tell me.

-Aaron

Connections and Comparisons

For the novel I am going to choose to compare with Great Expectations, I of course, chose, War and Peace. I'm sure its getting fairly repetitive by now. I mean seriously, its pretty much to be expected at this point that if I actually post a blog, the first thought through your mind will be, "Great, he's going to brag about how he's read some long book for no reason. What's this guys problem? How arrogant can you get about something so pointless?" As true as that may be, there is also the fact that such a long book provides a wealth of characters and themes to compare. In this case, I was most struck by the comparison between the characters of the two novels in the desire for great wealth and social class, greed, and its effect on the lives of the characters.

He was always desperate for more money.
What happened to him?
He was on a ship that blew up.

Both novels feature character's who desire for huge amounts of wealth, and upon obtaining it, use it to destroy their lives. In War and Peace, Boris sacrifices his fiance whom he actually possesses love for in the name of marrying into a rich family. Meanwhile, Boris sacrifices his childhood friends in favour of obtaining the fondness of his superiors and thus getting a higher military position. Similarly, Pip sacrifices his family and friends in favour of recieving wealth, power, and the potential to be with Estella. However, despite obtaining that which they "desire" both end up unhappy with their lot in life. Pip states how he feels he might have been happier if he had never seen the face of Miss Havisham. He may be right. Together the authors seem to show one particular driving aspect of human nature that is not always correct.

 Greed.

There are many famous phrases that speak of greed and its effects. For example, "You never know what you have until you've lost it." Both characters think they have so much to gain, yet once getting it they realize how much they had to lose to obtain it. It was not until too late that they realized how many heads they had used as crutches as they brutally stuck their spiked boots into them on their quests to climb the wall. Many of those heads which happened to have belonged to their friends, unprepared for the pain which accompanied their leaving. Not only does greed hurt those who pursue their desires to recklessly, it also hurts those who are related to them. A very destructive force indeed.

Interestingly, one of the few characters who did end up happy at the end of War and Peace was Pierre, another person who had obtained a large fortune in the story. Funny fact though, they didn't attempt to get it, but rather got it from the decease of their (fairly beloved) father. After some philosophical readjustment early in the book, they didn't use much of their wealth for their own personal gains, but rather for charitable concerns. I won't go down into the folly of what happened there, but his money didn't go purely for his own personal gain. Would Pip have been happier if we hadn't become so consumed with his own wealth, spending only for the sake of spending? I personally suspect yes, but who knows.

Both novels focus much on the appraised and actual value of both social standing and money. This is likely due to a time period when they were written where social lines were clearly drawn. Many would propose that this means the book is irrelevent to culture today where there is no easily drawn class comparisons between today and back then. However, remember that in those days, class and money were directly proportionate, and being "rich" is still a big deal today.  

Overall I feel both novels focus majorly on greed and how it affects everyone's lives. You spend your life always wanting, yet do you actually think you'll be happy when you get it, or will you only find destructiveness take that empty spot in your heart? I think its clear what the novel tries to teach us.

Thats all for now. Tune in next time for... War and Peace, an Unambiguously Ingenuous Interpretation of Androgynous Vegetables Substantiating the Proclamation of the Customary Practice of Deliberately Cauterizing Those Who Pose Themselves in a Position to Forestall Your Incursion Into the Business World Possessing the Determination and Purpose to Bring it Under Your Control- Brought to you by AaronINC

-Aaron

Body paragraph development

1. My primary changes to my paragraph have been changing transition sentences and commentary to better reflect the thesis and topic sentence. Beforehand many of my sentences would just mention, for example "The way Jack is" without taking the care to mention how Jack is actually an immoral person. I also made sure to edit in more references to the happy ending at the end of the novel, as beforehand the piece focused too much on the bad aspects of his personality which isn't really a problem except that I need to remember to broaden the thoughts to include his rewards at the end of the play.

2. I really need better word choice, as you may have noticed, then "bad person". How else can I state that someone is "bad" in regards to Jack? Other then that, I'm not really having many problems. There won't be any problems transitioning into the paragraph since (I thought) Jack was going first, but it shan't be too difficult.

Project Evaluations

1.Matt
-Artwork
-I thought this project did a good job of representing the characters and had cool effects. It also represented some of the elements of the story very well, but others were missed.
2.Daryl
-Artwork
-This project showed most of the elements of the book in one concise and literal art piece. The only problem I think is that the size of the laws is smaller then really neccesary.
3.Olivia
-Artwork
-This piece does a good job of showing its point of the irony of the situation where animals become humans.
4.Joel
-Artwork
-Similar to the one above, the artwork shows the main irony of the book of how humans and pigs aren't that different in the end.
5.Galen
-Comic
-The comic shows how the farm goes from being good to bad, showing the main plot of the book in a very well done comic.
6.Brita
-Poem
-I thought this poem was very well done. It shows events from the perspective of the pig's propoganda which really shows the overall plot and theme of the book.
7.Conor
-Artwork
-Conor's artwork shows the themes of the book through the differences with the laws and the portraits which easily allows one to compare the real Russian revolution and the book.
8.Maddie
-Artwork
-This is another project that effectively demonstrates the situation and theme of the book through the comparison of the pigs turning into humans plus the addition of the revolution.
9.Meghann
-Artwork
-This project uses a quote from the book combined with the reader's knowledge of the pig's actual meaning to demonstrate the pigs power over the animals.
10.Jake
-Artwork
-This is another art project that takes a slightly more metaphorical approach to demonstrating the theme of the book. Still, it shows how Napoleon and his dogs rule over the rest of the farm.

My project: The projects showed surprisingly diverse ways of presenting the same theme of the book. Personally I would find it hard to stack them all up, but I would say that there were a few clear good ones. While a few did stand out as particularly good, I wouldn't neccesarily put mine among them. On the flip-side, I wouldn't call one of the worst projects either. Of course, by my art talents that was a pretty amazing piece for me. It took me a while to figure out a few aspects of Gimp as well. I think it turned out alright in the end.

Until we meet again... -Aaron

Animal farm art project

My Animal farm creative project. The entire thing represents the continuous circle that the characters are in. It starts in the top left with an evil overlord causing dissent. The populace rallies together and creates a code of new rules and throws out their oppresser. The animals are happy for a while and there's cake, but the new leaders in power get ideas. He edits the rules but pretends its not important but slowly they move towards a regime where the new rulers are strikingly similar to the old ones. Eventually the populace is again treated as peasants who always have to lie in the mud, and dissent begins. In the middle is the donkey with a Picard facepalm hand added on to show how he knows what the process will result in. A few things I took special care to add were the oval which shows the circular nature of the process, seeing as the process of revolts wants to repeat itself. Also, you can see (I hope) the pig in a suit has lost his tail and his pig nose as he becomes more human.

If you recognize the sources of some of my pictures, you may consider this slightly more funny. Slightly.

-Aaron