HACKSCHOOLING MAKES ME HAPPY

I did not think that I would be learning something about school during my Thanksgiving break. I was just scrolling through twitter passing time & I came across this inspiring video in a tweet. What caught my attention was that a celebrity tweeted it & it just so happens that it was a TEDxTalk. ALSO it had mentioned hackschooling & happiness in the title, coincidence? I think not.

I will not spoil anything else for you. Just click play & be inspired by this 13 year old boy who believes that hackschooling makes him the happiest kid out there. Xx

FINALLY DONE APPLYING TO COLLEGES (sorta)

My entire life has led up to this moment. All the constant stress, nagging, & work load has prepared me for college. I'm glad I got to submit my UC applications to UCLA, UCRiverside, UCSD, & UCSC on Wednesday! I was so sick & tired of these college applications, but now they are submitted. There is no turning back for me. I was (luckily) able to submit my CSU applications to Fullerton, LA, Sonoma, & Long Beach State back in October.

The only reason why I waited so long to submit was because I had difficulty writing my personal statements, just like I do with whatever I write. My writing never seems good enough & I just feel like it can get better. I just don't know how to make it better. But I just had to stop over thinking it & just submit.

Now I just have to submit to Cal Lutheran & I will be all set!

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

1. The place I've chosen as hell is ordinary, completely boring and empty. But I do believe the mind can exist in hell in a beautiful place. The mind creates their own version of hell & I feel that the mind can fear a beautiful place. That it is not attainable & that they are not deserving of it, this beautiful place is haunting them. I feel like the mind is capable of finding peace in a hellish environment. They have to want peace so bad that they are willing to battle their most feared external/internal demons to achieve it.
2. Hell is never-ending. Hell drags on & on until you think its over & picks right back up again. You do not get the chance to breathe, there is a constant weight over your shoulders that makes living unbearable. With hell, one can only handle so much so they find distractions to cope from the hell that they are in.
3. Sartre creates an atmosphere that is familiar to an individual. He describes everyday activities that we unconsciously do & presents them in a way that we never thought twice about through his dialogue between Garcin & Valet. Lights can be blinding, often bright lights can deceive you from a destined path, create a misleading place of desire. The lights can represent the future, but since the future is so bright, you become lost on your way to capturing this light. Garcin asks questions that seem absurd to Valet, but actually start to unravel why things are this way. Everyday you become succumbed to the comfort of hell that you just get used to it, to the point that you don't know anything else besides hell. Hell is like a roller coaster that you can never get off of. You experience all these twists & turns & right when you think the bad part is over, you are spun backwards. You never even saw it coming.

BRAIN WITH 8 LEGS

I am in a group with Erica, Izamar & Nakesha. We have decided to read (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens) an average of 40 pages a night to finish by the end of Thanksgiving break. We have decided to create a new blog titled "Greater Expectations" to present our findings, questions, etc. We all decided it would be best if we contributed to every aspect of this assignment instead of having our own individual part.

VOCABULARY #9

aficionado: (noun) an ardent devotee, enthusiast, fan

-The Supernatural aficionados have dedicated entire blogs for their favorite show. 

browbeat: (verb used w/ object) to intimidate by overbearing looks or words, bully

-Never let a browbeat oppress you from being who you are & doing what you love. 

commensurate: (adj) having the same measure; of equal extent or duration 

- The test tubes have to have the same commensurate of chemicals in order for the experiment to run smoothly. 

diaphanous: (adj) very sheer & light & almost translucent or completely transparent

-The cancer had run its course, & you were now able to see every vain beneath her diaphanous skin. 

emolument: (noun) profit, salary, or fees from office or employment; compensation for services

-The emolument will be paid in full once we receive the stipend in the mail. 

foray: (noun) a quick raid, usually for the purpose of taking plunder; a quick sudden attack 

-Our school was not prepared for this sudden foray of pranks by the opposing school. 

genre: (noun) a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique or the like 

-No matter what someone will always have a criticism of  this genre of literature because of the controversial topics present. 

homily: (noun) a sermon, usually on a biblical topic & usually of a non-doctrinal nature; an inspirational saying or cliche

-Graduation tends to be full of homilies of how that graduation class was the best & how they are the future. 

immure: (verb used w/ object) to enclose w/in walls, to shut in, seclude, confine, to imprison; obsolete, fortify 

-Depression, if you choose to let it, can take over & begin to immure within every ounce of your being. 

insouciant: (adj) free from concern, worry, or anxiety; carefree; nonchalant

-No matter what I do, I cannot  shake this feeling of regret & be insouciant from the problem. 

matrix: (noun) something that constitutes the place or point from which something else originates, takes form, or develops 

-Matrices help form the infrastructure for the architectural blue prints of the building. 

obsequies: (noun, plural) a funeral site or ceremony

-I have attended too many dismal obsequies in my lifetime. 

panache: (noun) grand or flamboyant manner; verve, style, flair

-Damon has that charisma that just entices people to be around him; that panache that no one can replicate. 

persona: (noun) a person's perceived or evident personality, as that of a well-known official, actor or celebrity; personal image, public role 

-Elena's persona was constantly changing & no one could seem to keep up with her multiple attitudes. 

philippic: (noun) any orations delivered by Demosthenes, the Athenian orator, in the 4th century b.c., against Philip, king of Macedon; any speech or discourse of bitter denunciation 

-Do not blame me for your faults & use that philippic language towards me, all I've done was help you through these trying times. 

prurient: (adj) having inclined to have, or characterized by lascivious or lustful thoughts, desires, etc.; having a restless desire or longing 

-The difference between someone who surfs & someone that is a surfer is that surfers have a prurient longing to be in the water & in the sun. Surfers cannot go a day without surfing. 

sacrosanct: (adj) extremely sacred or inviolable; not to be entered or trespassed upon; above or beyond criticism, change or interference

-Ancient burial grounds are infamous for being sacrosanct & anyone who does trespassed is punished. 

systemic: (adj) of or pertaining to a system 

-Fangirls belong to a systemic fandom where they obsess over their idol & practically dedicate their lives to them. 

tendentious: (adj) having or showing a definite tendency, bias or purpose 

-Most are tendentiously inclined to stick with what they know & avoid any change or difference that they know nothing of. 

vicissitude: (noun) a change or variation occurring in the course of something 

-These past events had rekindled more vicissitude in my life than ever before. 

WE HANG TOGETHER

• Inter-organizational relationships can be competitive, interdependent or a combination of the two
• Organizations are interdependent in terms of their performance & organizational cultures
• In the late 80's & 90's this shifted to corporate strategy & association b/c of global marketing, converging tastes, ever-shortening lives of technology & product cycles & large capital investment demands
• Strategic alliance: various collaborative relationships & endeavors
• When executives & managers are forced to create strategies for partnership & cooperation they must  do it in a way that fits their organization & human resources
• Corporate leaders, academics & pundits often mistakenly characterize business endurance as competition rather than dependence
• Darwin's model of evolution illustrates the natural tendencies of organisms to create relationships, networks & communities
• The "fittest" are not necessarily self-sufficient but diverse, most adaptable & interdependent
• Human factors such as trust & communication play a significant role in the successful implementation of interdependent effort
• They will also naturally sabotage any initiative that does not fit their value systems
• Collaboration unless required or sanctioned by an authority figure is considered cheating
• To achieve ideal independence, something must be sacrificed & what is lost is the sense of teamwork, belonging to something that is greater than oneself
• A collaborator must be able to justify his investment in a strategic relationship by promoting the benefits of creating a strategic relationship or create fear for the ramifications of acting w/o it
• Acting out of self-interest can conflict w/ what is good for the alliance; which is influenced by societal, cultural & organizational influences
• By allowing & encouraging relationships to take place among companies, departments, individuals & other members of online, market, & geographical communities, companies can achieve multiple goals in marketing, PR & good will of altruism
• Effective interdependence facilitates not only business success, but the preservation of an environment in which for-profit & non-profit ventures thrive

SONNET ANALYSIS #1

• Italian roots from Sonneto
• meaning little song/sound
• divided into two parts: Petarc & Petrarcan
• initial section octet & 2nd sextet
• sonnets are 14 lines
• Shakespearean couplet, Petrarcan