Behind the Scenes

Have you ever wondered about a writers writing process? Well, here is a peak into what mine looks like.  This is a small selection from a paper I was writing for English.  It took me like an hour to write this much...

Appiah brings up some worries in connection with a *stops to think of words* persute pursuit of an individual life. *Takes a break to stir the taco meat* The first is that it could tend towards the arbitrary. *checks on the taco meat again* “Suppose, for example, I adopted a life as a solitary traveler around the world, fee of entanglements with family and community *doesn’t like this and erases it*  *changes “a pursuit” to “the pursuit”*  *goes back to the taco meat* To use his example, what is to stop a person from setting of to be *gets a text* *responds* a “Scholar Gypsy.” Some one Someone who merely flits from place to place “free of entanglements with family and *gets another text* *responds* *goes to check meat* *does dishes* *cuts up tomatoes* *starts eating tacos, sadly without sour cream* *gets chat message* community” and only making the money necessary to survive. *gets another chat message*  *gets a glass of milk* *eats more taco* *more chat* *stares at computer trying to think what to write next* This doesn’t make full use of the person’s tallents talents *pauses some more* *more chat* *and more taco* and is essentially a waste of their life. The second *pauses to think of word* charge against the *more chat* *tries to think of word* individuality is that it *more chat* is “unsociable.” (67) Because you place your views about your individuality *gets distracted by Katie’s TV show* a quest for individuality is based on your knowledge, opinion and will; there is the possibility that a person could become ingrown and only focus on themselves. 

So, what do you think?  Will this type of thing become as popular as movie behind the scenes? Yeah...I don't think so either So that you can actually makes sense of what I was writing; here is the finished section (I did do a few more revisions to it after the above was completed): 


Appiah draws attention to “a couple of worries” in connection with the pursuit of an individual life (66). The first concern is that it could tend towards the arbitrary. What is to stop a person from setting of to be a “Scholar Gypsy?”(67) Someone merely flits from place to place “free of entanglements with family and community” and only making the money necessary to survive (66). This doesn’t make full use of the person’s talents and wastes his life. The second charge against individuality is that it is “unsociable” (67).  A quest for individuality is based on an individual’s knowledge, opinion and will, there is the possibility that a person could become ingrown and only focus on himself.  


~Nat

Why Do We Take Vacations?

My brain is a contradiction.  I was blessed with a very logical and pragmatic portion as well as a completely flighty emotional one.  This leads to very interesting arguments inside of my brain.  One of the most common ones is the purpose of spending money on fleeting things such as concerts and vacations. My flighty emotional side loves the experience and doing new things; while my pragmatic part grumbles about wasting money on things that don't last. So why do we do this? I mean, I know we aren't Vulcans (if you don't know what those are you obviously didn't grow up with gigantic nerds for family members) but our actions should be governed by some logic, right?

My mom has a phrase that she always uses whenever we grumble about not liking a family outing. She says that we are, "making memories." Now, although she just applies it to situations that are less than desirable; she is kind hits the mark on this one. Isn't that why we-well everyone but my family pay big bucks to go on fancy vacations; to make memories?

 But even though there is a reason; the logical part of my brain still asks "what is the point of making memories?" For awhile, I didn't have an answer to that. But then, the other night, it hit me. Memories are what define us. They make us who we are. For example, when we lived overseas we used to have to take this horribly nasty malaria medicine. I mean it was bad. The worst thing that I have EVER tasted. To reward us for taking medicine like good little children; our parents would give us chocolate afterwards. I soon began to associate the taste of the horrid medicine with chocolate and it wasn't long until I began to dislike chocolate and refused to eat it. So, the bad memories I associated with the medicine erased my love of chocolate for awhile (don't worry; I have it back now).

But memories can have an even larger impact on us than just changing what foods we like. They can define out character and change our personality. A guy who has had a lot of betrayal or abandonment in their lives will be more closed off from people. A girl who was told everyday she was beautiful will be more confident and sure of herself. Our memories and experiences make us who we are. And this is the answer to the pragmatic bit of my brain; we spend money to make good memories because good memories make us better people. So go ahead, spend loads of money on your vacations! (Unless of course you want to send some of that money my way. I am a broke college student after all.)

~Nat

The First Week has Passed...

...and I think I love college.  No, seriously, it is so much fun. I have discovered that I like having a schedule when doing school, it keeps me from procrastinating too much. It is also fun being able to get out of the house a lot. It is a new and different environment to discover and I look forward to finding out more about it. The classes I am taking this year are English comp II, introduction to American government, introduction to criminal justice (yes I am a complete nerd and chose these classes because they sounded fun but they also count for my core which is awesome) and art . I am especially excited for my art class because I have never taken an art class and it will be nice to learn more technique for my drawing.

A few highlights:

1) Being required to buy art supplies.
2) Having extra grant money left over.
3) SPEECH! :D
4) Interesting professors.
5) An amazing clock tower on campus that plays music.
6) My classes being close to each other.


Some not so fun things:

1)Waking up at 7:00 am.
2) Having to go to be early because you are waking up at 7:00 am.
3) Lugging a two ton backpack around.
4) Knowing I will have to take tests.
5) Having a major ADD moment because I was sitting around all day (I was seriously super wired, it is not fun when you need to go to bed.)
6) Missing out on stuff because of my busy schedule.


~Nat

I Smell a Sequel

Remember that really silly movie awhile ago called Snakes on a Plane? I think I have found a sequel to it.

"Re-Post this Status": A Rant

I have seen a lot of this recently, and although almost all of the statuses (stati? *sigh* grammar) support good causes, I still find them incredibly annoying. These statuses try and guilt you into re-posting the status. They say things such as "if you are not afraid to show your faith" or "if you support our troops" then you should re-post this. Implying, that if you don't re-post it you are a horrible Christian and/or are a horrible person.

I don't think that it is right to guilt a person into showing support for a position. Just because you don't post a certain combination of words doesn't mean that you are afraid to stand up for your faith. Just because you refuse to be copy everyone else does not mean that you don't truly support our troops. Just because you refuse to spread a cliche phrase does not mean that you aren't a true Christian.

And because they chose to use status that tries to guilt me into re-posting it, I don't feel like doing it. I don't respond positively to negative pressure to do something, and when someones status pulls a guilt trip, my reaction is to ignore it.

Well, that was fun, but I should probably stop ranting now and bring this post to an actually beneficial conclusion. There are many people who respond negatively to the coercive language that the re-posted statuses used, but if a person where to phrase it more like "Please show your support and post"  instead of "this if you truly support this then you should re-post this," it would be more persuasive and a person would be more likely to do it.

So the conclusion is: our words have a powerful affect on people and if we want to be able to persuade a person to do something, we need to be careful how we phrase our wording.

Thank you.

The End

~Nat

The Dark of the Night Brings Depressing Thoughts

So, because of my ADD and the inability to control impulses and make wise decisions that is connected with that disorder, I did something really stupid. Especially for someone with adrenal fatigue (we have settled on this diagnosis for the time being to explain my tiredness) which requires a goodnight's sleep to get over. This is the stupid thing I did: stayed up late finishing a book, and now I can't sleep.

When I am lying in bed trying to sleep I let my mind go and wander where it likes. Tonight it wandered to a depressing place, to thoughts of goodbyes. It started contemplating people I hadn't seen for awhile and I realized that there is a very good chance I will never see them again; this makes me terribly sad. But life is like that isn't it? Our lives touch the lives of others for a time and then we part ways. It is a constant cycle of meetings friendships and goodbyes. Continually letting people into your hearts and lives, only to leave, never to make the connection with them again. Then there are the people you do see again after you have left, but you only see them for a short time and then you must say goodbye again.

 You can keep in touch through letters, phones, emails and facebook, but it is never the same as the real thing. Also, the number of people you touch in your life continues to grow, making maintaining contact with all of them incredibly difficult.

These thoughts are enough to make me almost wish I grew up in a small town where everyone I knew was born, lived and then died there. But that kind of place would be so incredibly dull that I think it would drive me nuts. Even so, I never want to be one of those families that moves a lot, I want to live in one place my whole life and I want my kids (if God blesses me with some) to grow up in one place.

But, even if I did stay in the same place, there are still going to be goodbyes. That is just the way of life. I know that all the Christians I have come in contact with I will see again in heaven. But that is a small comfort to me at this moment because I am pretty sure heaven won't be the same as it is on earth, so what I know and love now, I may never see again.

Didn't I say these thoughts are depressing? There are almost enough to make me want to avoid all attachments until I get to the place where we never have to say goodbye. But humans weren't meant to alone, no man is a island, and I would get waaaay too depressed without human contact.

So, I guess I'll just have to live with it and go to sleep.  It is the way it is and staying up mourning about all night is not beneficial. I hope I didn't depress you too much. Goodnight.

~Nat

Where Does It All Go?

I am missing some clothes! And not just a random sock or a shirt I never wear; I am missing important clothes that are staples in my wardrobe. My black tank top that I wear under everything, my favorite pair of shorts and my black flats, have all disappeared. I have looked in all the usual places: the dirty clothes, the clean clothes, under my bed, in all my drawers, and they are nowhere to be found. For a girl, this is a crisis! How on earth am I supposed to accessorize my outfit correctly if I don't have my black flats?! (And for those of you that don't know me well, this is sarcasm. I am not that crazy about clothing. But still, not being able to find my favorite shorts is kind of a bummer.) 


You know, this whole crisis reminds me of that one Arthur episode when DW has lost her sock (for those of you who don't know what Arthur is; watch this and be educated). It turns out that the sock was stolen by a neighbor's dog and taken to the "sock market" ,* a place where pets take their owner's socks and give them to other pets. The purpose is to help stimulate the economy because it forces them to buy new sock. 


So, I guess that must be it! My brother's guinea pig stole my clothes to help the economy! Excuse me while I go interrogate a rodent as to the whereabouts of my clothing...


-Nat 


P.S. For those of you who may be wondering after my last post, I am feeling a lot better now.  We think that it was just my adrenals being overtaxed because of all the late nights and the stress. So, now that I have been getting to bed earlier, (although I am not doing such a great job of that tonight) it has been a lot better. But we are still going to go on another elimination diet to see if that helps too. (For those of you who don't know what this is, let's just say that it is worse then having to watch the Hannah Montana movie every night from now until I graduate college.) 

*when you are quoting something and the punctuation wasn't in the original, are you supposed to put the comma before or after the quotation? I have seen it both ways and I have no idea. It seems to make more sense to me to put it after since it isn't part of what is being quoted, but I could be wrong. (Also, I am never quite sure what is the proper procedure for punctuation and parenthesis.)