Final...wow that time already

In picking a topic for this final assignment was a difficult one for me at least, I through a few ideas around in my head. One being a research paper about something to do with horses, and then I remembered I probably include my hobby of horses into too much of my academic life. So this time I am going to try something different. I am planning on taking a more creative approach to this assignment rather than an academic approach. This meaning I have decided to create an English syllabus for a high school class. I am going to use the handbook from the high school I attended(Hartland High School) in part because I have access to a paper copy of the handbook, along with an electronic copy available on their website. I chose this because I am thinking of becoming an English teacher, and most likely in the high school age range, I have been told I am crazy. (I have no idea what their talking about)

Professional...hmmm

For this blog post I got the email with the attachments and the two posted websites as assigned readings I attempted to open the attachments but with no luck. I tried and tried to unzip the files that were attached to the email, just the zippers were stuck, I am so punny when I want to be.

So for the first reading, I chose “How to write a cover letter” naturally because it was the first article listed.(I apologize for the sarcasm, had a moment from when my internet was not working, then just not being able to open the attachments kind of ran into one another). Also when I was reading this I was thinking to myself, a cover letter is not always for a resume, it can be for many other things in the professional world like a fax, a change to a manual, anything could involve a cover letter. I for one have created many cover letters. I work at a company, in the trade compliance dept., inside this company we deal with many of these cover letters in the context of the working world they do not have to be as formal, but close I usually will state at the top of a fax cover letter for example the ATTN: line and from, to, date, a brief paragraph stating why the fax is being sent and then usually conclude with a thank you and nine times out of ten I print it off on company letterhead. This is just one instance in how I use letterheads in my work as an trade compliance. But it was a really good basic outline for a cover letter for a resume.

First of all for the second reading “Writing the Personal Statement”, I have to mention I love owl, such a good website. I did not know that they had a guide to writing a resume…. I will probably look at this and recommend it to individuals that I know who would utilize it to its full potential. I always knew they had something for APA and MLA, now I am going to have to do some snooping around. I also like how owl just makes things seem so much simpler for whatever reason, this is how you should do it, and this is why, sometimes cut and dry, if life was like that, we would be having no fun. Fun should always be included in everything you do.

About the bringing in of something professional writing, yes so had something printed out at work, from work, but went to a five hour meeting and sort of forgot it on my desk. But the important thing in my eyes is remembered.

Equestrians

For this particular assignment entitled “Pop –UP-Scholarship” I had a hard time choosing a topic, I originally wanted to do a few chapters from a book about no other topic then horses what a surprise. Well I realized this was not on the versions of composing we could choose from on the assignment sheet. So I went then went to Google and when my friend Google could not help I went elsewhere. I was perusing all my usual cites before beginning the homework process, facebook, yahoo mail, um-flint mail, and while checking my yahoo mail I realized that there was an email from myself at work reminding myself that Rolex tickets have gone on sale and that I need to purchase them for 2010. So I open the site and I realize this would be the perfect idea for this pop up assignment. I then went to back to my old friend Google and searched the deaths at Rolex. Because as some, take that back most of the people did not know that the equestrian world of eventing lost another star this year. The star that only shines up in the sky now is Kingpin. Kingpin was one of the equines competitors in this year’s Rolex. I chose this because there have been deaths of not just horses but riders alike. Through Google I found a post, believed to be a blog, but I am not sure at this point, the post was entitled “Is Eventing Too Dangerous” and mentioned in this was an article from The New York Times “Equestrians’ Deaths Spread Unease in Sport” this was a really good article that really focused on the riders while they are important I want to know more about the horses that are no longer on this earth because of the famous event.

To answer the question of who’s horses and why and where they died, I cannot locate a list. So I had to settle with the most recent Kingpin. Kingpin’s story is an unusual one because this horse did not die from any injuries he acquired from missing a jump, stepping wrong, misjudging distances etc. this horse died from a rare but natural cause. (a hemorrhage of the large vessels in the abdomen). Also after reading the assignment more clearly I probably should have not chosen this topic but too late for that now.

For the pop up part of the assignment I mainly just gave my opinion of the readings I chose. The reason why I did this is because no one wants to joke about the serious aspect of losing a partner. Some of my comments seemed sarcastic in some of the articles I chose, only because it was a duh moment in my opinion. I dread the day when I have to lose my partner, hopefully it won’t be due to something we do together. There is another reason why I chose this it is because I was down in Kentucky, and at this very particular event when this horse lost his life. I thank goodness did not witness it myself but I did witness some pretty scary falls of riders and horses alike.

I did little correcting of the articles but I still attempted, the ones from the Rolex site were the ones that needed the most editing because the paragraphs were not even paragraphs and some of the way they even cut their “enters” of the lines was not the way the rules that I was taught by. The other article that was written for the New York times is well written and just flows, but then again those articles are suppose to.

In comparison the articles that I ended up choosing were not all the most “creditable” ones but they all had the same important message, when you point a finger to whose fault it is you always have three point right back at you. The New York Times article and “Is Eventing Too Dangerous?” are similar in tone and subject matter, what I liked better about the “Is Eventing Too Dangerous?” was that there was a part in the essay where the author mentions a way that the eventing committee are proposing a way to change the way the jumps are built. On the other hand I liked The New York Times article because it has good solid quotes and that does a lot for the reader.

All in all I ended up “editing” more than one article because I felt that it was necessary to understand why I chose this particular aspect of the equestrian world. It is truly sad that the USA has to be the “big man on campus” at everything we do, and to no one’s surprise someone ends up getting hurt in the end. I wish this would not happen this way but accidents happen and there are not much one can do once the star finally takes its trip to heaven and then to shine down on the rest of us.

Late night opinions

In reading the article “Film of the book: top 50 adaptations revealed” right off the bat I agreed with the author that a great book almost always does not make a good film all the time, sometimes but not all the time. Also I was surprised to see that there were no JK Rowling books on the list and Lord of the Rings either. These are good movies in my opinion. What I am not surprised that is on the list is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I like the original), Fight Club, The Godfather, and Alice in Wonderland.
“Novel Adaptations: How Close Should They be?” I attempted to read the Harry Potter books and literally got lost a few pages into the book and never picked up one of those since, but I do like the movies. So my opinion is if you are going to see the movies do not read the books and if you are going to read the books don’t go see the movie plain and simple. But we have to have people that want exact copies and it just does not work. I love the movie “The Devil Wears Prada” and I had no idea that there was a book, I do now, but I’m not going to go read the book because it just would ruin either or the book or the movie but I will never know.
Reading “Adapting a Novel Into a Screenplay” I totally get step number one because when reading a book you create this character in your mind and then when you see the movie its so not what you had pictured the whole time reading the book. when reading the book you are left to make your own screenplay if you will rather than if you see the movie and then read the book ( I don’t recommend ) then it just ruins the book, because things are there that are supposed to be and things that are not.
“True Blood Book Adaptation Sucks” I never even watched one part of that show so I have no way to relate to the article.
“A Clockwork Orange By Anthony Burgess” This article I do agree that the imagery could be powerful. I find it weird that the 21st chapter was not included but included everywhere else. I still agree that you should read the book or see the movie not do both it just ruins one or the other.

Comics

In reading “Writing Comics: A Guide” I thought to myself about the topic for a second, when reading comics one does not think of what exactly goes into making this a piece of art in the Sunday paper, the reader just enjoys the little blip of work and goes about their day. For some this is something they do not do, they actually think about what goes into writing a comic. The word that cracked me up that I came by that was in a sentence all by its self was, Practice. I love that this was mentioned because it is the root to everybody’s problem in sports, writing, composing, in almost everything a person is involved in. Also some of the steps can be used for “normal” writing for example, check for spelling grammar etc. and format, all the basics that every writer of all kinds should be doing with every piece they compose. Something else that was interesting that I thought was something people knew and would not do was submitting an original art work. That is a no no, and if you actually become big someday that can be worth a lot of money.

While reading “VISUAL LANGUAGE: WRITING FOR COMICS” I do fall under the stereotype of thinking comic books are bout heroes and villains and this is where the good always triumphs comes from. I also thought they were always classified under the “art” category. But when reading this article I realized that it is a “medium of expression”, I stand corrected. I liked how when I was reading this article I really got the idea of what’s involved in making a comic and the legality side, also the writing, and art side. It really got me thinking of what actually goes into my favorite comic “MUTTS”. I realize now it is a lot more then I originally thought.

Just the title of the next one made me wonder “Women in Refrigerators” what is this going to be about. I was kind of weirded out by the first paragraph for a while then I realized it was part of someone’s weird comic. But also the character list and the alarming amount of characters that have (dead) next to the name, little strange. But on the other hand I liked how the author had the respondents and the reactions posted in links right there on their page.

“Not Just a Comic Book, Graphic Novels Teach us History”, I have no idea what to think on this one, I hope it is as interesting as the rest. I am more confused than anything I thought we were discussing comic books, but maybe there is a correlation I am missing here ,between graphic novels and comic books, I’m not so sure.

Composing with a twist

There are many types of composing that exist in on this planet we inhabit and to some individuals it can be considered writing and to others it can be considered whatever the common name that is given to that particular activity. For example composing could be considered writing, poetry, painting, drawing, dancing, music, texting, twittering, facebook comments, post etc. and so many more. What people might not consider composing is a anything to do with horses. But what non equestrian individuals consider composing us equestrians consider boring, we take the composing aspect and give it a twist.
Equestrians have many types of composing, reining, dressage, jumping (cross country and stadium), cow penning, horse vaulting, and carriage driving just to name a few. Almost every aspect of the mentioned equestrian involved activities involves some sort of pattern that is executed by the team of rider and horse. Reining, jumping (cross country and stadium) and dressage involves a specific pattern that is judged on the riders use of leg aids, memory to remember the pattern, posture, seat, and overall appearance and execution of the pattern. Dressage is one of the sports that can qualify under many categories I believe that the horse is absolutely dancing when executing a correct dressage pattern. Cow penning and horse vaulting are the dancing type of the equestrian world I am sure many equestrians could argue with me but, for cow penning the cow and the horse are basically dancing with each other, and in vaulting there are many humans involved doing the “dancing”.
As an equestrian myself there are certain things that are involved in creating any pattern that involves the equine counterpart. The amount of space the rider has to work with, agility of the equine, and in the case of dressage where the letters on the rail are placed. Being so involved in the equestrian world for many years of my life the things that I do while in the saddle I do not even begin to realize I do automatically until someone asks for a pattern of some sort. Now all these normal functions that take no thought what so ever now have to be brought into the conscious part of the brain to be put to work. For some this takes a pen an paper and for others this just takes a few minutes to think up a pattern in their head and then perform it with the upmost accurate precision possible.
I submitted two pieces of composing; they were both videos of me and my equine counterpart My Spartans Heir, Sparky for all intense purposes. As a team we go about six or so years back. This is one of the benefits and being able to make up a pattern on the spot knowing the ins and outs of your partner. But as any equestrian should know that they are animals and are unpredictable as seen in the video he does break the canter in a few instances, this I was not expecting, it was the last class of the day a long one in his defense. In video one, this is the real class that I was actually judged on, one important aspect of the class that is not videoed was the courtesy circle, this is something I was taught to do before beginning a jumping course. It is like a nod in a dressage test or a bow in dancing, it is just polite. This also helps with the straight in the middle approach to jump one. My jump one was very well executed due to this technique, now because of the size of the heated indoor arena there was no way that if I took jump two in the middle I would have been able to make the turn, so I chose to take the jump way to the left to avoid the issue of a hoof slipping. Jumps three and four is a very easy four stride line combination along the long side, to finish up with jump five is jump one only coming from the opposite side. I would have attempted a courtesy circle at a canter but again the space was small so I opted to bring Sparky down to a trot and then a flat footed walk to complete my circle.
I also submitted a second piece of composing; this was one that was written by me in my head, in all of a few minutes. I walked around the course thinking of how I could make the transitions smoother and not so choppy. My answer came by approaching jump one from the other way just like jump five on the previous course. The video starts in the middle or tail end of my courtesy circle and then my jump one to two goes a lot smoother than before. I decide to take the outer jumps one time around; the X jump’s and then taking jump one again to make it jump three. I decide to change it up a few and take the first of the X combination and then go to the other rail and do lead change take the diagonal vertical in the middle, then do the X combination again to end the course. Also I did not do a courtesy circle to end my course because I was not being judged, lazy out I know.
But all in my entire composed jumping course and my jumping class are just one of the many types of equestrian composing out there. I personally think that one could gather much inspiration from just watching any of the listed equestrian sports, reining, dressage, jumping (cross country and stadium), cow penning, horse vaulting, and carriage driving. I hope everyone enjoyed the rendition of composing by a equestrian with a twist.

My outlook on the readings

In reading “Getting Started Writing Science Fiction” I was a little confused and I had and still have no idea who James Gunn is. I even Goggled him, I don’t relate to him and I don’t know how to really interoperate his work. Still after reading it I still am getting out of it that it was about writing fiction and how the authors point of view and what or who motivates them. And about where the author mentioned “Still with me?” I am so not and I am still lost.
While I read the second article “Descriptive Writing” it sort of tied in the first piece but did not fill in all the blanks I still have. But I did like the way the writer mentioned that one must not over do the descriptiveness of their writing. I for one can sometimes get lost if there is too much description going on where the audience/reader cannot imagine or figure out things for themselves. I being a horse person could think of so many other words to use instead of horse. Yes when a reader uses something I can relate to I usually remember it more and it clicks. Now the article clicked in my head of what everything is suppose to be about. I think??
The piece “How to Write a Novel: The Snowflake Method” was really long but interesting to me I enjoyed how the author compared writing a novel to a snowflake. Also I liked how right off the bat the author mentioned that writing a novel is easy but a good one, well that’s a another story (no pun intended). I also enjoyed reading the authors perspective on how to write a novel as I have never written one myself I leave that to the more eccentric and creative people. Not saying that I am not creative it is just my creative writing skills are not up to par as compared to others. I liked (for a lack of a better word) that the author gave tips at the end of how to use the snowflake method if need be.
Just the title of the next piece of writing intrigued me “Secrets of book publishing I wish I had known” this would not only draw my attention but probably keep me reading just to see what the secrets are. The first secret I read about was that the publishers do not do what they do for the sheer love of books. I personally know this and I am not a writer, it is silly to think so, but that’s just my opinion. Also the other secret I found interesting is that if you write a book for money then you have no business writing a book because then you are writing for other reasons then yourself and in writing I have been told that you always should write for yourself and yourself only.