Thoughts on Blogging

I didn't know anything about blogs before starting this assignment. I was nervous about it at first because I always feel self-conscious when other people read my writing. So the idea that all my classmates would be able to read whatever I wrote was kind of nerve-wrecking. It was the same kind of feeling I had when I was a little girl and was afraid that someone would find my diary. I think that knowing that others would be reading my blog did affect how much of my personality and opinions I let come out in my writing.

At first I had a hard time thinking of what to write about in my blog postings. I guess I was confused about who my audience was. I did a little experimenting; Sometimes I wrote as if I was just writing to myself and at other times I was writing as though I wanted the reader to know what was going on in my life. I also did a couple of reviews and commented on TV shows and movies. Depending on my mood I was able to decide who my audience was. It could have been myself, my classmates, or even all the citizens of the United States if I had chosen to address them.

I think that what is appealing about the blog is that it is what ever the writer wants it be. It can be used as a medium to express one's opinions to a wide audience or to a narrow audience as is evident in some blogs. Personally, I found that deciding who I wanted my audience to be allowed me to focus on the other basics of rhetoric (the purpose and technique or approach.) For example, my audience for this post is you, Karl. Therefore, my purpose was to successfully respond to your assignment "Revenge of the Blog," and in order to do that I thought that the most effective technique was to use paragraph form.

Not only does blogging give the writer a choice of what he or she wants to write about, but blogs also give readers a choice of which blogs he or she wants to read. For example, I only skimmed through other classmates' blogs and usually only stopped to read the short ones or the ones that had interesting pictures and/or titles. The blogs I liked most were Niko's and Stephanie's even though most of their posts were pretty long. They are both so honest and opinionated, which I found very entertaining. In regards to other classmates' blogs, there was a lot of variation in which every one chose to approach the whole blogging assignment. At times, I was kind of surprised at how personal some of the blogs were. I don't know if I could ever reveal so much about myself to strangers.

Although I found this whole blogging assignment to be kind of a pain, I do think that it is an appropriate assignment for this class because the purpose of this course is to write in various settings. What I can suggest is that if you decide to make blogging a requirement in your future classes, it might be a good idea to provide optional weekly prompts for those students who don't want to write about themselves.

Poker

I love poker. I became interested in the game only about one year ago. I happened to come across a game while channel surfing one day. The game was Texas Hold'em; I had never seen poker played that way before. I'm sure most people know how the game is played, but for those who don't you can go to this link for the rules:
http://www.texashold-empoker.com/Texas_Holdem_Rules.htm

I was instantly hooked. It was amazing to see how the professionals could so easily and boldly bluff each other out of pots with the worst hands. I did some research and found that Viejas, Sycuan, and Ocean's Eleven all have poker tournaments every morning. I like the Viejas tournaments because they are pretty cheap, only $14, so it's a good way to practice and try out new strategies. Plus they have $5 bounties, which means that you get $5 each time you knock someone out of the tournament. Everyone's goal is to make it to the final table because that's where you make money. I've made it to the final table three times so far and I can only hope that through more practice I can make many more final tables; and who knows, maybe one day I'll be playing against the top professionals on a televised tournament with a chance to win millions of dollars.

Dear Santa,

This year for Christmas I would like:
a new perfume
designer purse
dark brown boots
new workout clothes
new watch
new cell phone
and happiness for my family and friends

I hope it's not too much to ask for!

Contact Lenses

I have been wanting to get new contact lenses for a while now. A few months ago I asked my mom to get me some more contact lenses because I had run out of them. Since I only really need them to drive at night and to see the board in class I was not in quite a hurry to get them. I had been wearing my glasses instead. The clinic where I had first bought my contacts told my mom that they couldn't sell her any contacts because my prescription was expired. That sucked because it meant that I would have to go get my eyes checked again. I finally went this week. There was good news and bad news. The bad news is that my eye sight got a little worse, so I need a higher prescription. But the good news is that I no longer have a stigmatism, which would make my contacts more expensive if I still had it. The doctor gave me a weeks worth of the daily disposables as a trial because I hate having to make sure my contacts are clean. I like just throwing them away at the end of the night.

Company Christmas Party

I'm looking forward to my company's Christmas Party this year because I had so much fun last year. Last year it was at a hotel in Del Mar (I don't remember the name of the hotel). The party began with awards and recognitions for employees, then we had dinner and dancing. There was also karaoke going on and my favorite was the casino games. We were given play money to spend at blackjack tables, craps, roulette, and poker. What was also cool was that my boss, the owner of the company, was walking around buying every one drinks. This year the Christmas party is somewhere in Rancho Bernardo, and it's going to be pretty much the same format as last year, so I know it's going to be a lot of fun. Before I started working for this company I never knew that company Christmas parties could be so fun. Now that I have such high expectations I hope that the companies I will go on to work for in my career throw Christmas parties that are just as fun.

Law and Order: SVU

One of my favorite TV shows right now is Law and Order: SVU (Special Victims Unit). I started watching it earlier this year. The show is about a New York team of detectives who specialize in solving cases of a sexual nature and also those crimes committed against children and the elderly. From the beginning I was hooked because I liked the plot twists. One minute you think you know who did the crime and then the story gets even more twisted. The characters are also very likeable and you find out more about each of them with every episode. The actors are wonderful too; they are what keeps me wanting to see the show. I know that because I've tried watching the other Law and Order shows but I don't care for them very much because I don't think the actors are very good. Sometimes the topics are very disturbing and it makes me wonder if some of those crimes have actually been committed. It's definitely possible, but I hate to think that humans can be so cruel to each other.

Christmas Shopping

I think this is the first year that I have finished my Christmas shopping before the 24th. I actually got a lot of good deals this year. I went to the outlets by Viejas casino and bought nice things on sale. I recommend the Fossil store; they have lots of watches on sale. What's good also is that because my boyfriend is in the Navy we were able to save money at the NEX (the mini mall on the navy base) too. Macy's also had some good deals. What I hate most about Christmas shopping is that although I know that I'm supposed to be buying presents for my loved one's I can't help to want to buy things for myself. For example, at the Fossil store, I knew I wanted to buy a watch for my cousin, but after seeing all those cute watches I felt the urge to buy a watch for myself. It was hard to convince myself that I didn't really need another watch. Now I have to do what I dread most at this time of year, wrapping presents. I'm not the best wrapper so I lose my patience very quickly. I would much rather be opening presents than wrapping them. But I also like the feeling of watching people open a present that I got for them. It makes me feel good that I got something for them that they like.

THE BIG APPLE

FOR CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR, MY MOM AND TWO OF MY COUSINS DECIDED THEY WANTED TO GO TO NEW YORK. WE DON'T HAVE ANY FAMILY THERE BUT THEY WANTED TO GO BECAUSE MY MOM OWNS A TIMESHARE WHICH ALLOWS HER TO USE THEIR RESORTS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD FOR A REALLY GOOD PRICE. MY MOM TOLD ME SHE WOULD PAY FOR ME TO GO IF I WANTED TO GO WITH THEM, SO I COULDN'T SAY NO TO A FREE TRIP. I LEAVE IN TWO WEEKS; I'M SO EXCITED. I JUST HOPE IT DOESN'T SNOW A LOT BECAUSE WE'RE RENTING A CAR AND I'VE NEVER DRIVEN IN THE SNOW, I ACTUALLY CAN'T REMEMBER THE LAST TIME I SAW REAL SNOW.

THIS WILL BE MY SECOND TRIP TO NEW YORK. I WAS THERE IN JUNE BECAUSE I WON AN ALL EXPENSE-PAID TRIP THERE THROUGH THE COMPANY I WORK FOR. I WAS THE MARKETING DIRECTOR AT THE TIME, AND BECAUSE I MET MY QUOTA I WAS SELECTED TO GO. I WAS ONLY THERE FOR 3 DAYS BUT IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. MY FAVORITE IS CENTRAL PARK. IF I WERE TO EVER LIVE IN NEW YORK I WOULD LIKE TO LIVE RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE PARK; BUT THAT WILL PROBABLY NEVER HAPPEN BECAUSE A CONDO THERE COSTS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

Sony PSP

My boyfriend recently purchased the Sony PSP. Before he bought it he thought about it for a long time. I'm not in to video games so I didn't see the need to spend $250 for it, not including any games. He asked me every day what I thought he should do, buy it or don't buy it. I really didn't want him to spend that much money for a hand held video game but he finally decided to buy it last week. I was nervous about it because I didn't want him to regret spending that much money, but after personally playing around with it myself, I have to say I like it. You can listen to music on it, watch movies, and play video games. My favorite game is The World Series of Poker game. I love poker, so the video game can keep me entertained for a long time. The graphics are awesome too; technology sure is amazing.

AMBER
Isn't she adorable. Her name is Amber, she's a Shar-pei. I've had her for about a year now. She's the first dog I've ever had. When me and my boyfriend first saw her we knew she was the one we were taking home. She was still a little puppy in the bottom picture , but as you can see, she hasn't changed much; napping is still her favorite activity. I miss being able to carry her; I can barely even pick her up anymore. Some people are scared of her, but she's really sweet. She' smart too. She learned pretty quickly the few tricks that my boyfriend taught her. She still humors us with them because she's a sucker for treats. Before Amber, I didn't like dogs because I had a bad experience with one when I was younger. But my boyfriend finally convinced me to get one. I'm glad it was Amber because I love her wrinkles; sometimes I wish she had more.

Wow, it's been a week since my last cigarette. This sucks. I've quit before; I can do it again...hopefully forever this time. I really wanted one after my first glass of wine last night. But I thought to myself, "Who's stronger? Me or a pack of cigarettes?" When I was sixteen I never thought that I would have to ask myself such a silly question. I hated cigarettes. How did I come to love them and crave them? I don't remember. All I know is that I can't keep smoking them. I can't keep hurting myself.