Wreck this App: #2

This journal entry asked me to draw fat lines and thin lines. I feel like my drawing skills have gotten even worse since nursery... 

Santa came early this year!

This is my new puppy Lily! We got her on Monday, and she's 8 weeks old. She is an absolute angel. I wish we still had show and tell in grade 12 just so I could bring her in for everyone to see!

Wreck This App: #1

The first entry of my journal told me to use the page as a test screen for my art tools, and it's pretty obvious that I drew I nice summer's day. Duh. 

Hey lil'bud!

Wouldn't you just love to be woken up by this cute little guy? I know I would! 

Thinking About Dialogue: Answers

1.    Talk about the process of eavesdropping: 

                                                i.      Where did you go?

                                               ii.       How long did you listen to conversation?

                                              iii.      Who was it between?

                                              iv.      How did it feel to be recording the conversation? 

1. Danielle, Annika and I walked around downstairs for a bit before making our way upstairs, and sitting in on some kids talking about absolute nonsense by the big window upstairs. I'd say we listened to their conversation for a solid 7 minutes before realizing just how awkward and uncomfortable it was what we were doing. It was between these two random kids, pretty sure they were in grade 11. I honestly felt like a creepy obsessed stalker writing down every word they spoke and every emotion they expressed while talking. It was weird and uncomfortable, but it was also fun and funny!

2.    What insights did you gain about the way people speak?

I noticed how much people use body language while talking. People are so animated while telling a story. This kid was talking about how good the song he was listening too, and when he started singing he would do an action with every word he sang, I thought it was pretty entertaining. I also noticed that neither of them liked looking at each other while one another spoke, I found that a little weird. The guy who was singing, liked to use a lot of sound effects and emphasis when he talked! When he got really excited, his volume would raise and his expression brightened, and when he talked about something not as exciting, his volume came down and his facial expression went down with it.

3.    How can you apply this to your writing?

I feel I could incorporate some sort of sound effects in my writing, and I should definitely write the expression/emotion changes with whatever they're talking about. I could also write about how their volume changes with what they're talking about as well.

4.    How is personality and character revealed through conversation/dialogue?

I believe that the personality and character of someone is revealed in the way they express the story. By that I mean, if they use a lot of hand gestures and big bright eyes, I feel they're a very passionate and loyal person. As aposed to someone who kind of talks in a monotone manner, with no body language whatsoever, I feel these kinds of people don't care about anything because they don't even care about what they're talking about in the moment.

5.    What happens when more than two people participate in a conversation?

I definitely think it's a lot louder than a two person conversation, because everyone's trying to get their story in there someway and somehow. I feel it's also a lot more intense, whether it be a sad intense, or an excited intense. You could be talking about something depressing, and you get everyone's sadness and sorrows all at once and that can be pretty intense to take in. But it can also be a crazy happy conversation and you take in everyone's hyped up ecstatic energy and vibes and that's also intense, in a super awesome way!

6.    What was the most surprising thing you’ve learned about the way people converse?

I think the most surprising thing I learned while "creeping" was that there's not a lot of eye contact. I mean I'm not one to talk to someone and stare them in the eyes the whole time, cause that would be creepy. But there was little-to-none eye contact and that took me by surprise. I was raised to talk to people while looking at them, not at my phone, so I wasn't used to it.

7.    What are the differences and similarities between written and spoken conversations? 

I feel that the way people converse in written dialogue is way different than in spoken dialogue. When authors are writing out a conversation, there's no tone when writing so I feel you don't know how the character is actually feeling, or how the character even said what he/she said. The conversations in real life are also a lot longer because people talk about more than one topic and keep the conversation going, unlike written dialogue which ends when the topic ends. I guess if I had to pick a similarity it would be what they talked about. A lot of conversations that happen in written dialogue, I could totally see people having in real life situations.

Answers to Imagery Questions

1. Why did you select this passage? Why did it appeal to you? 

I chose this passage because to me it painted the most vivid picture in my head. It may only have had 2 senses, visual and smell, but the amount of visual and smell imagery used in the paragraph made it the perfect passage. It appealed to me because the way the author wrote this paragraph made me feel like I was in the story. "...raining for eight days straight at the end of June..." That smell, you smell after the rain has stopped, was running through my nostrils while I was reading it. Not only did I smell that dampness after it rains, she also painted a picture for me. I could see the droplets of rain dripping from the trees leaves, and kids most likely jumping in puddles! 

2. What type of imagery is most common in the passage? 

Definitely visual is most common throughout my passage. It's probably the easiest imagery out of all of them, so that makes sense as to why it would be the most common. Every sentence paints a different, very clear, picture in my head. 

3. What is the best snippet of imagery within this passage? Why is it so effective? 

I feel the best "snippet" of imagery within my passage would have the be when the author writes, "The first sidewalk chalk drawings of the season swirled down the gutter..." I can all the different colours from the chalk swirling and mixing together, making a beautiful rainbow effect before washing away. 

4. Is the imagery positive or negative? How do you know? Give some examples to support this. 

This imagery is definitely negative. I know because it has a gloomy vibe to it. A good example of it being a negative imagery is when she writes, "The rain had drowned perfectly manicured lawns and the first blooms in organic vegetable gardens, turning everything to mud." I feel this quote could've gone either way with being positive or negative. I feel the use of the word "drowned" made it negative. She could have said "The rain soaked up the perfectly manicured lawns and first blooms..." And I would have had a different feel to this paragraph. 

5. What mood/emotion is being created by the author? How do you know? 

I think the author is trying to create a depressing emotion. I feel this way about the passage because she talks about things dying, "single wilted bouquet..." And "raining for eight days straight..." Just one day of rain is gloomy, but eight? She's definitely setting the depressed mood in this passage. 

6. What is the purpose of this piece of imagery? 

I believe the purpose of this imagery is that everything that was once beautiful is washed away. The author shows this by using the rain to wash everything away, like the rain washed away the first blooms, and the baseball fields, and the chalk drawings, and the beautiful Alison DiLaurentis. She shows that everything beautiful, doesn't last forever.

Reading Tweets #3: Text Connections

Text to Self (Buried 81) 

Emily is an All-Star high school swimmer with parents who don't accept anything but the best from her. When Emily doesn't end up getting the scholarship to university that she told her parents she did, they go AWOL. I've never lied to my parents about getting into university and have them freaking out, but I play soccer and I know what it's like to have a bad game, and have your parents be not only disappointed in your team, but you. Playing any sport at a high level is stressful when your parents want nothing but success from you, so when Emily has a bad swim and her parents get disappointed, I can say I definitely know the feeling. 

Text to World 

The girls from Rosewood, Hanna, Aria, Spencer, and Emily are all being virtually, emotionally, physically and mentally abused by an anonymous bully named, A. Now, bullying happens all over the world to boys and girls, men and women of all different shapes, sizes, ages and ethnicities. No one helps the girls with this anonymous bully, and the sad reality of all this is that a lot if people, if not most people, in real life stand and watch as one or multiple of their peers gets bullied or harrassed. If more people stood up for others when being bullied, maybe we could put an end to it, and maybe the girls could out an end to A once and for all. 

Quick write: Meeting the Grim Reaper on the Road

 

The sun was creeping through the tall, luscious green trees of this beautiful early fall day. I could feel the warmth of the suns rays on my face. I loved the way the leaves crunched beneath my feet with every step I took. I was on my way home when a nice cool breeze wafted the smell of something rotten into my nostrils. That's when I noticed a tall figure at the end of my path. He looked lost. "Hello sir" I said cheerily. He looked panicked to see me, almost as if he had seen a ghost. "Could you help me find my way?" He retorted. I smiled, "Why of course, where are you headed?" He hesitated before replying with "I'm looking for Mr.Bilbo?" coldly. I took a step back, thrown off by his response. It was in that moment when everything clicked. The long black robe, the scythe in his right hand, the atrocious smell that wafted by me earlier, and the inability for me to see his face? This was no man; this was death, and he was here to take me with him.

Quickwrite: The House

I was walking through the foyer with nothing but a match in this almost torn down house, when I heard the slamming of a door come from the second floor. I hesitated before letting my curiosity get the best of me. The stairs creaked as I slowly walked up them. It felt as if there was another presence in the room with me, but I thought to myself that's crazy. Ghosts aren't real. As I was exploring the second floor for the door that was slammed shut I heard a faint laugh that I could have sworn was right behind me, but nothing. I went back downstairs kind of disappointed that I didn't find anything cool in this old torn down house, not even some old jewelry. I was halfway to the door when I heard the skipping of feet that sounded like it was coming closer to me. I was getting a little freaked now because it kept getting louder and louder. I tried to run out of there but my body wouldn't move. It's as if some entity had paralyzed my body. The skipping had stopped. And I heard that laugh again, but this time I knew it was coming from behind me, because I could feel someone breathing on me.

Quickwrite Minion

If I got a set of minions for a week I would be the happiest person in the world. I love minions. They're so cute and funny and very reliable. I hate cleaning so they'd definitely be good for that. They're always down to party so I know we'd get along. Minions would just be a great time, all the time.

Reading Tweet #2

Burned (35) is a pretty good book so far. Not too far into it yet, but the title has got me thinking of ideas of events to come already #title 

I don't understand how "A" is everywhere the girls are? Maybe "A" isn't just 1 person, maybe "A" is a team of people? #bigidea #theAteam 

"The liars better tighten their life jackets. A perfect storm is brewing & if they aren't careful, "A" will bury them at sea..." #favquote 

"A" has so much dirt on the girls, yet does nothing? Why? #comment 

I think Aria and a fire are gonna be linked up in this book because she is on the cover & the title is called "Burned". #prediction #thought

Six Word Memoirs De-brief

What did I learn about storytelling? 

I learnt it's actually very hard to come up with a six word sentence that tells a story. I'd either have 7 or 5 words and get frustrated and give up. I though writing a 6 word sentence that told a story would be quick and stress-free. It's actually quite time consuming and requires a lot of thought. It took me quite a while to come up with 8, 6 word memoirs that I thought told a story with a lot of hidden meanings and feelings. If you had told me before that you could tell a story using only 6 words I would've thought you were crazy, but you can. 


Where did I show my knowledge about using storytelling skills? 

I feel I used my knowledge about storytelling skills when I had to figure out where to put my punctuation, or to even have punctuation in my sentence at all. It's crazy to think how little punctuation, like a comma or an exclamation point, can really change your sentence in how you read it and the meaning behind it. I thought I showed this skill really well on my third memoir, "let your past, make you better." I put the comma after "past" to help emphasize the separation of your past, and your future. I think it helped show that everyone makes mistakes, but that we learn from our mistakes and become the people we're meant to be because of them. 


What did I learn as a reader, writer, thinker, storyteller? 

As a reader I learned that 6 words can tell a very meaningful story and paint a very vivid image in your head. They can describe multiple meanings and feelings and I think that's amazing. I also learned that I should start reading everything in more than one ways to maybe decipher hidden meanings, and discover a more broad message behind the 6 words. As a writer I learned not to rush my writing and to take my time to make my pieces more meaningful. I also learned that you don't need to write big and detailed paragraphs for your writing pieces to be meaningful and beautiful.