Advanced Composition

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Mister Master Potter

Your topic this week is to talk about your greatest achievement.

I don't know if I can say this is my greatest achievement; however, this past weekend I finished graduate school and now have my Masters degree.  You don't have to call me Master Potter.  Mr. Potter will still do.  Still, it feels good to be done with my Masters degree.  Every week I had an essay that was due on Sunday.  You guys think writing a blog every Sunday is bad?  You have no clue.  Try having to read books every week and then write an essay about the readings.  Every week.  For 18 months.  That would be a year and a half.  That's a lot of essays. 

Nevertheless, I made it.  I am done.  So it's called a Masters degree and it begs the question: What have I mastered?  I would say if anything, it has shown me that I may never be a master.  My degree was for Literacy and Technology.  I learned a great deal about technology and how it can be used in classes.  However, everyday new programs are designed and new breakthroughs occur with technology.  This is why I say I may never be a master.  I did learn a lot though.  My seniors did a research paper this last semester where they used their research to create a digital story (fancy words for a movie).  All of my classes are using blogs.  Both come from my Masters course, and both I consider integral parts of what I do in my classes. 

So is this my greatest achievement?  Probably not.  I have had other great achievements in education, sports, and in my personal life.  Finishing my Masters was just another great achievement.  And thank God it is finished...cause seriously, if I had had to write another essay this weekend...think flamethrower.

Senior Comp. Photographic Essay

As the sweat dripped off his face, he faced his opponent with what could be misconstrued as a cocky smirk.  His heart was racing.  The ball went from his hand to the gym floor and back as he watched the seconds slowly dissipate.  The sound of the crowd ripped through the gym like a volley of gun shots.  Deafening.  The clock read 10 seconds.  His heartbeat pounded to the rythm of the bouncing ball now.   The opponent glanced right and then left looking for a possible screen.  No screen was needed.  The sound of the ball hitting the floor was now merely an echo of his heartbeat as it seemed to slow even more.  9.  Their season had come to this moment.  8.  The sound of the manic crowd slowly faded.  7.  He focused on the hoop over his opponent's head.  6.  He glanced into his opponent's eyes and could tell that it was his pulse that was racing now.  5.  He exploded to his right.  4.  The defender lunged after but was too slow.  3.  He rose up having taken this shot 1000's of times.  Time slowed.  2.  The ball left his fingertips in one fluid motion as the opponent looked on helplessly.  1.  The ball's rotation was perfect.   0.  As the horn sounded, the player watched knowingly as the ball fell through the net.











Emotion: Confidence

Moronic Movies Make Me Mad

Your topic this week is to talk about some of the best movies you have ever seen.  What did you like about them?  Are there any coming out soon that you are looking forward to seeing?

My English 10 classes had Mr. Miller in class last week to speak about his Classic Film Studies class.  His discussion was the inspiration for this blog.  I am an avid film lover.  If a movie is worth watching, I have probably seen it.  In fact, my English 10 classes are being introduced to a classic 80s film (Wargames) this week for our Science Fiction and Fantasy Unit.  Anyone familiar with 80s films would recognize the two headliners from this film: Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy. 

Since I have seen so many movies and have such eclectic tastes, I think the easiest way to mention some of the greatest movies I have ever seen would to be by genre. 

Disclaimer:  Many of these movies are rated R, and I am not suggesting you go see these films.  I am merely pointing out my personal preference.  These are not necessarily my picks as the greatest films in each of these genres either.  They are just the first films that came to mind.

Action:  Die Hard. 
Adventure:  Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade
Comedy:  Happy Gilmore
Crime:  The Town
Drama:  A Time to Kill
Epics:  Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Fantasy:  See above...but I'll throw in The Neverending Story as a personal favorite from my childhood.
Horror:  The Shining
Musical:  The Sound of Music
Science Fiction:  Donnie Darko
War:  Enemy at the Gates
Western:  Tombstone

If Time is Relative, Can One Truly Waste Time?

For this week's topic, tell me things you like to do that might be considered a waste of time...

This is an interesting topic because it doesn't ask for what you enjoy to do in your free time.  To me, that is different.  I like to play basketball and work out in my free time.  However, I dont think people would think these activities are a waste of time.  

However, I play Angry Birds quite often and this is a waste of time.  It is even more a waste of time when you consider that I have beaten every level, and I am now going back through the game to beat each level with a three star rating.  I think video games are a waste of time.  Many would disagree and that's ok.  Trust me.  As I rotate from COD, to Assassin's Creed, to Alan Wake, I know that this is not a wise use of time.  

I'm sure many of you have watched movies multiple times.  This is one of my favorite ways to waste time!  There are some movies I could watch over and over.  When I was little, it was all the Disney movies.  I still can sing all those songs from those movies.  When the First Lord of the Rings film came out I think I saw it something like 11 times in the theatre.  Yikes.  That is nearly a day and a half of watching one movie.

Finally, I am proud to say that I read some books over and over again.  In the early 90s I discovered Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World.  It is the first book of the Wheel of Time series: a series that makes the Harry Potter books look like glorified Dr. Suess books.

The Eye of the World was actually first published in 1990.  There are now 13 books in this Fantasy series.  The 14th and final book will be released sometime this year.  Robert Jordan wrote the first 11 books, but passed away of a rare blood disease in 2007.  He selected Brandon Sanderson to finish his series using his outlines and notes.  I have been reading this series for the past 15 years of my life.  It seems like every two years I go back and reread the books form the beginning.  A waste of time?  Certainly.  Do I care?  Certainly not.   

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou Sister

Your topic this week is to talk about what it is like to grow up with a brother or sister or both.  If you don't have any brothers or sisters, what do you think it would be like?  What is it like growing up without any siblings? 

Maybe this might not be the great conversation stimulator that the cartoon prompt was; however, I grew up with an older brother, a younger brother, two younger sisters, a younger step-brother, and a younger step-sister.  This is me with my brothers in 86 or 87 I think...

For me, the question isn't will I be able to write about this topic.  The real question is how much do I really want to tell the world about this topic?  For example, do I start off by telling you how much I love my brothers and sisters?  Or instead, do I tell you about the black eye I went to school with because I got into a fist fight with my older brother?  Should I be embarassed that he punched me in the face so hard, I'm not sure which hurt more-the punch or hitting the ground after he connected?  Granted, I got up from the floor even quicker than I hit it...so should he be embarassed that he ran to his room and locked the door?  To this day, I will not forget the embarassment I felt going to school with a black eye from my brother. 

Yes, that's the older brother who gave me a black eye.  This picture, believe it or not, was taken around 98 or 99...my black eye disappeared.  This picture is a black eye that isn't going to disappear anytime soon...

Still, a black eye beats getting hit in the face with a metal bat.  That story would be about my younger brother.  We were in our neighbor's back yard playing homerun derby.  He would pitch a tennis ball to me 10 times.  Then we would switch.  The one with the most homeruns (over our other neighbor's fence) won.  I'll start off with this...he had no chance to win.  I think I had hit 8 of the 10 out.  He had missed his first three or four.  So, I started to pitch him inside.  I hit him once, and he said I'd better not throw inside again.  I said ok, and then I pitched inside again.  He charged the mound.  Now, if you've ever watched a baseball game where the batter charges the mound, you'll notice he drops the bat.  My brother isn't necessarily a baseball player.  He brought the bat.  I didn't run or dodge his swing...why would I?  What brother hits another brother with a bat...in the face?  Mine. 

That's the younger brother around 98 or 99...true, he doesn't inspire fear.  Put a bat in his hands though...

I don't have many memories of my sisters when I was younger.  Not that they weren't there.  I remember eating dinner with them...but I didn't get into fights with them, and they weren't playing homerun derby with me.  They were probably off playing with their Cabbage Patch doll or whatever it is girls do when they are young.  Now that I think about it...it's kind of strange that I don't remember hanging out with my sisters at all.  Oh well, I'm over it. 

That's my youngest sister...I think we were dancing at a wedding.

That's my sister who is finishing up college right now.  I'm pretty sure that's not her normal face.

I love my siblings, brothers and sisters alike, and I would do anything for them.  However, we had wars and we used weapons.  Now my older brother is married with a few kids and running a business.  My younger brother is teaching philosophy at Notre Dame.  What am I doing?  I am blogging about them...apparently I took one too many blows to the head growing up.

P.S. You like that title?  In the business we refer to that as an allusion to a great movie!  Sounds like an upcoming blog topic...

Senior Composition 2nd Semester

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