College Admissions!

•  CAL POLY SLO  Feb. 25
•  UC SANTA CRUZ March 14
•  UC SAN DIEGO March 15
•  UC SANTA BARBARA March 16
•  UC IRVINE March 19
•  UC LOS ANGELES March 21
•  WESTMONT March 24

Masterpiece Draft

Write a draft example of your Masterpiece as a project and bring to class next week.  Include milestones, dates by which you'd like to accomplish them, and what your desired outcome/s might look like by June.  This doesn't have to be polished, it's a starting point for your next Masterpiece Consultation

     I think that I'd like to do a lot of little things and combine them for one masterpiece. Maybe make a separate blog with one good post a week about random or not so random stuff, make youtube videos, for sure add my photography blog into the mix, and research what the bloggers and youtubers I follow do and how they make it happen. I can tie it all together with an analysis on the internet life I live and see.
     Starting March I can make a game plan for kinda exactly how many pieces I want in this. Then, every week or so I can update and keep making lists of what needs to happen in that week, like a new post or video idea or person to research. 
     By the end I can make an analysis about internet life and personalities. How people portray themselves online and if it differs from the school personality. How the internet helps so many make their ways through this world. It is amazing how interconnected we all are now. I can include Laura Ritchie and the Yosemite trip in this mix, personal experiences, my peers' experiences, and anything else I seek out. 
     I think that this seems achievable and like something I can keep up with because I'm online a lot more than I should be in the first place!

A More Productive Monday

Today was interesting. It was an early out, I was productive in reading up to chapter 5 in the book before practice. It ended up that I was unaware of the practice being early so I missed that and my opportunity for work later in the evening was also denied to me. I drove here and there, back and forth, during this, but it was nothing compared to a practice, so this led to an abundance of time compared to my usual days. I love it! I really don't want to quit anything that I do, and I'm committed to everything, but how I love the extra time when there is no practice! I play a sport every season and I forget what it's like to have all of the hours after school to get everything done. I think that I just wanted to make this post to maybe remember the feeling to have a little less worry. Ironically, as I write this I should be studying for a physics test... time to log off!

Thanks Henry!!!

Henry, here, answered a question of mine! Here's his post:

Want to embed music on your blog? This site makes that shit basic.

The website http://scmplayer.net/ allows you to create a playlist of your choosing through MP3 files, Soundcloud or YouTube URLs.  Checkout the site and edit a playlist of your own.  All you have to do is copy and paste the URL or a downloaded MP3 file into the "Edit Playlist" setting.  You can then edit the way the playlist looks (they give a list of basic templates).  Run through the instructions on the site and it will generate an HTML code that you can use anywhere.  Go to the layout of your blog and copy/paste this HTML code into it, either at the top of the screen or the bottom.

The coolest part is that if you know how to code (which I DO NOT) you can further edit the playlist just by messing around with lines of the code.  By "just by messing around" I really mean very strictly altering them and I don't know how to do that.  But maybe you do know so there you go.

Basically what this site does is generate a code that you can copy and past into your blog.  It's very useful and simple, and lets you put pretty much any song or sound you want on your blog.  Again, the website I use for this is http://scmplayer.net/. 

Brave New World Notes Chapters 2-4

Lit Terms

The complete list of literary terms with definitions lies HERE or HERE
Here's the end of the literary terms: List 6

simile- comparing 2 things with specific words
soliloquy- extended speech delivered by a character alone on stage
spiritual- folk song, usually religious
speaker- narrator
stereotype- cliche, simplified, standardized conception with a special meaning and appeal for members of a group; formula story
stream of consciousness- style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a chacter's thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories and mental images as they're experienced
structure-planned framework of a lit selection; apparent organization
style- manner of putting thoughts into words; characteristic way of writing or speaking
subordination-couching of less important ideas in less important structures of language
surrealism- style in lit and painting that stresses the subconscious or the nonrational aspects of man's existence characterized by the juxtaposition of the bizarre and banal
suspension of disbelief- suspend not believing in order to enjoy it
symbol-something which stands for something else
synesthesia- the use of one sense to covey the experience of another sense
synecdoche- another form of the name changing, in which part stands for the whole
syntax- arrangement and grammatical relations of words in a sentence
theme- the main idea of a story, its message
thesis- a proposition for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved or disproved; the main idea
tone- the devices used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work; the author's perceived POV
tongue in cheek- a type of humor in which the author feigns seriousness; aka dry or deadpan
tragedy- in literature:any composition with a somber theme carried to a disastrous conclusion; a fatal event; protagonist usually heroic but tragically (fatally) flawed
understatement- opposite of hyperbole; saying less than you mean for emphasis
vernacular- everyday speech
voice- the textual features, such as diction and sentence structures, that convey a writer's or speaker's persona
zeitgeist- the feeling of a particular era in history

Pancake Day

As I scrolled through my Instagram feed today after school I saw five posts in a row about pancakes! Why did the bloggers I follow all choose to post about pancakes on the same day? Isn't national pancake day March 3? I've seen ihop advertisements. I was very confused, then I looked it up. Wikipedia was very helpful! I guess on the Tuesday before Lent many European countries celebrate a Pancake Day which traces back to like medieval times where people would make pancakes which required rich ingredients, like flour and eggs, that they couldn't eat during Lent. It was kind of like Mardi Gras, which I don't know much about, in all honesty. From what I know it's just one big party to binge and be glutinous before Lent. This was a way, way, way less extravagant celebration, but making pancakes fit the bill. After reading the page I realized that those people who posted were British so that totally made sense. I wonder why I never know this before. It's also interesting to read about how many countries go about  this Tuesday before Ash Wednesday and what their traditions are. The more you know. 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrove_Tuesday

From the Pockets of My Notebook to Marketing

• SMART goals, Sept. 5
• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Reinforceable & Responsible
• Timely 
• Use for college stuff
• scholarships
• work
• create something
• On making something, Nik
• Description
• Logo
• Brand
• embedding ppt
• scribd.com
• Hero's Journey---Marketing
• a good story
• theme/ deep meaning
• conflict
• detail
• suspense
• uniqueness
• characters
• identifications
• balance to make sure not overly simplistic 

Aldous Huxley

A Biography Here

So I read a biography from IMBd
I like the short fun facts so I'm going to give those

• height: 6 foot 4.5 inches, tall dude 
• his family had several successful members in various fields of literature and science
• he turned down knighthood
• it said that his book Island inspired the psychedelic culture of the '60s
• he was involved in experimental drug use for his friend's research and wrote about the experiences in The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell
• his death was pretty sad that it got overshadowed by JFK's assassination 
• he wrote the original screenplay for Disney's Alice in Wonderland, which is very believable  

These are a bunch of quotes by him HERE

In class notes

• originally British- Santa Monica
• "All science begins with science-fiction" not by him though
• reality distortion field
• all predictions are imaginative
• saw lack of curiosity/ comfort needy

First impression of AP resource materials

• lots of poems to answer questions about
• passages are pretty long and many questions for each passage
• vocabulary in questions elevated
• I know I've read at least two of the novels in each essay prompt
• the lessons might be cool to just go through

Christian Farmer Righetti 2015

There was no better way to end Senior Night on Friday than like this!

Masterpiece ¿?

As I talk with friends about school I realize that the education system is sucky in a few ways. I've been able to "succeed" but at the cost of many things. Kids are mentally and emotionally f'd up because of it. I think a project could come from this.  

Bree Rodriguez's AP English Lit & Comp Blog: Masterpiece in Progress

Bree Rodriguez's AP English Lit & Comp Blog: Masterpiece in Progress: When I get older I hope to travel to different countries and help non-profit organizations or become an activist to better the world. I'...

Bree Rodriguez's AP English Lit & Comp Blog: Don't You Quit

Bree Rodriguez's AP English Lit & Comp Blog: Don't You Quit: It's amazing how often you spend in your restroom. When I was in elementary school we had this poem hanging on our bathroom wall and it...

Bree Rodriguez's AP English Lit & Comp Blog: What is time? (Journal)

Bree Rodriguez's AP English Lit & Comp Blog: What is time? (Journal): Time. T-I-M-E. There's an infinite amount of time yet it's treated with such scarcity, why? Time ticks and tocks, comes and goes, fa...

Jimmy Fallon Went to Bayside High with "Saved By The Bell" Cast

This is kind of the best thing ever

Thoughts for the Day

     I think today has been a good day. There's new life around campus as a result of what's happened and Monday was a very, very sad day. We have a home game tonight; Friday we play St. Joe's and the game will be dedicated to her.
     Back to today's events. Let me share: we submitted 60 pages for yearbook, I was really tired, I bought some Girl Scout cookies from Imanie (they're comin' to me tomorrow), Matthew gave me a fun sticker, I laughed so hard that I almost couldn't breathe in 5th period, listened to Melissa Steller skype about the Yosemite trip, and I am recovering from the concert last night.
     This gets me thinking about money, not in a negative way, but in the "I need to figure out how to make more" kind of way. I am going to a concert in July, am in need of a new phone, am planning to Yosemite trip it up, am wanting to go to VidCon, and also would like a nice camera, am I forgetting anything? (I felt the need to underline for future references.) Lots of stuff, but I know that I can do it, I just need to figure out what I can do. I think that when basketball is over I can do more Friday night stuff, like maybe babysitting or something. We'll see, but I'm excited about it all. The more I think about these things the more excited I get, tbh.
     Masterpiece, yeahhhh. There was a good point being made about making decisions. I know that I'm extremely indecisive, but not really sure how to fix it. I will just be present in other people's when they need me for now. I think I lack confidence and like to stay behind the scenes with doing a lot of work. I like to make things look good.

Tuesday Night

And this happened tonight

Lindsey Stirling is amazing 

I'm so glad that I was able I share this experience with two amazing friends 

The photo quality wasn't all there, but I definitely was :)