Make-Up Blog Part Three: Just Gotta Make it Through This One!!!

So I was riding home from work with my friend Danielle on Friday night, and she mentioned something about the blog she'd posted for the class the night before, and, uh, let's just say some school-inappropriate swears escaped from my mouth and echoed loudly throughout her Infiniti... I felt dumb. So, so, dumb.

So I haven't started my second outside reading book, because I'm a procrastinator. I'll get it done, I know that, but right now it's just sitting pensively on my floor. My first book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was actually pretty good. I'd seen the movie in April or May, and didn't really care for it. So why did I choose the book? No idea. I think the day we had to sign up, I had yet to make a selection, so I picked the first on I recognized. At first it was slow-moving, but past that... SOOO GOOD.

This time, I picked Blood Meridian. My reasoning behind it: the girl who sits in front of me was talking about how gritty and weird it was... And that appeals to me far too much. I like dark stuff. Why should the world be glossed over?

Make-Up Blog Part Two: Closer...

So, gotta think up another English-related topic... I really should have done these on time.

The authorial technique analysis paper (look at me, sounding all smart) peer reviews we had to do were definitely not my favorite assignment. To an extent, I can understand why teachers have students do these, but my answers always feel a bit forced. I don't want to be rude in my critique, but I also would dislike to give them a false sense of perfection. It's even harder when you've never talked to that person; it's like "Hi, I'm Monty, I don't chat much in our class, but your essay was absolutely HORRENDOUS". If I know the person at least, they can know that my honesty is with the best intentions.

I'm not a fan of offending others, which is ironic, because I seem to do that more often than I'd like on accident. And, although I have the mentality of not really caring what the peer critiques I'll receive say (which is, in some ways, a wee bit of a lie), I'm convinced that whoever I'm reviewing for will be hurt deeply. I highly doubt this is actually true of anybody in our class, but something in my head instinctively tells me otherwise.

Thankfully though, the pieces I critiqued didn't suck.

Make-Up Blog Part One: Because I Suck

The past three Thursdays, I have completely forgotten to blog. And then I've just told myself I'll get to in on the next night they're do, thus creating a vicious circle. So I'm going to kill that and post them now!

I'm not sure I'm digging on Oedipus Rex so far. I'm having a difficult time remembering names, something I tend to be really good with in reading material, and it really doesn't interest me. If I could explain my reasoning, I would, but in this case it seems a bit difficult. There isn't one part that annoys me, it's just not holding my attention as much as it could. I'm probably just going to read more of it, then draw a full conclusion.

Truth is, though, I thought I would enjoy it a little more. I'd heard the basis of the story beforehand, and Greek mythology is really fascinating to me. Plus the psychological factors... It's just really, really weird. And I enjoy that. Perhaps it's because it's written in verse, and I developed an aversion for that when being forced to read Romeo and Juliet freshman year (note: I have no issue with Shakespeare, just that particular play). It kind of killed that writing style for me.

Okie dokes, next blog!

Yeah, No Title, Gotta Submit Right Now

So I just thought, fish are cute, why not?

I wasn't a giant fan of "The Guest" at first... But I could tell there was some sort of meaning behind it... Basically I was texting my good buddy Danielle before she picked me up for work on Sunday, and she said it was weird. So I read it, and agreed. The weird factor was both off-putting and intriguing however.

Rather than go on about how we learned about existentialism in class and it was sooo cool and cause me to understand the story sooo much better (because Mr. Mullins said that's obnoxious, and what's the point in pissing off my English teacher?), I'll just focus on the topic itself; I think it's pretty cool.

So I'd heard the word existentialism before, but it was something I didn't know the actual definition of. Maybe I'm slow, who knows. But since we talked about it in class, it's fascinated me to no end. Thinking about it, we all are a bit selfish, aren't we? You can apply it to most anything! It really bothered me at first since I've grown up in a culture where it's socially unacceptable to be an openly selfish person (I even talked to one of my friends about this lesson, and she got rather annoyed, since she sees herself as a very selfless person), but I see how we embrace it everyday. Of course, like many theories about how we are and why we do what we do, there are some holes, but the basis is extremely interesting.

Being selfish though: why do we consider it so bad? What about it makes people so offended when they're labeled it? Do we as a society give it such strong meaning because of our outward distaste? I think I'm going to look into this much more, just because it's something that's been stuck in my mind for DAYS.