There is a Time and Place for Everything

Blogging and formal writing are two very different things to me. I approach them very differently as well.

Formal writing is like the stiff looking man who wears a suit all the time, who looks nice, but doesn't have much personality. He sits there wearing sunglasses (maybe he's a bodyguard) and doesn't move much but you get a basic idea of who he is just by looking at his regal stance. The writing in formal situations is restricted and voices are much more similar. It's harder to be unique and it is very structured most of the time. Of course, this doesn't mean that formal writing is always bad; there are lots of times when it can shine and stand out. It is a great way to persuade or get a point across effectively. If something is written very formally and intelligently then more people are bound to understand and agree with it. If it sounds more informal and opinionated then less people will resonate.

Blogging is so much different than what I just explained. For instance this blog post is not very formal at all and I am writing this using completely different technique. Blogging is like the weird hippie on the side of the street. They are full of expression and color. Their personality overflows just from their presence, and you can't miss their quirks and interests.

Personally, I enjoy blog writing more because it is more relaxed and showcases personalities much more the formal writing. They are both important but used for different things. They can be just as effective as any other type of writing, but everything has it's time and place. However, blogging, to me, conveys almost more information because you are getting to know your writer and who they really are. I think this is an important part of reading any type of text, unless of course it is purely factual.

Something is Wrong With Me

I think there is something seriously wrong with my sleep schedule or I am deathly sick. I have been sleeping so much during the day lately and I can't seem to get up. It's becoming a problem because all I want to do is lay there and neglect my studies but I can't.

I am running out of interesting topics to write about and this was on my mind, because there is, in fact, something wrong I swear. My eyes always hurt and I find the need to sleep top priority! The strange part is that I cannot sleep during the night so I sit in my bed till 6am wanting to fall asleep, but instead just laying there, still, with my racing thoughts. I thought staying up all night one night during the weekend would be a good idea because then I would be really tired come time to sleep the next night, but then I realized my will power is weak and I would just end up sleeping during the daytime, which would just dig me a deeper hole. I don't know what to think about what has been going on lately, but I assume it will end soon, or at least after christmas break (which is only about 2 weeks away for me!!!). Anyway, I am very behind because of this so I must go work on other things.

Simon Cowells voice bothers the shit out of me.

This was the strangest blog post sorry

I Don't Really Feel Like Reading Jonah Lehrer...

In Jonah Lehrer's New Yorker article, he uses more story like techniques than may be realized the first time reading.

One technique that I noticed was he organizes each of his points much like a story. They are each explained in detail, separately. He focuses on each of the different aspects and reasons specifically and thoroughly making sure to move into the next paragraph with grace and transitions.

Another thing that he did was tell a story within the article. When he described building 20 there was a lot of natural story telling. He had to give the background so the way in which he explained what happened was much like a novel or a short story. He told it like an event that had happened in the past and there was so much to tell so it seemed like I almost forgot about what he was writing about aside from the building 20 story. He set the stage for building 20 by describing what it was like and the atmosphere of the building in great detail. In a technical paper, these descriptions are often lost due to the scientific edge and preciseness of the content.

After rereading this article for the second time, I basically felt the same about it. Of course, it refreshed my memory as to what it was about and the specific studies done in order to prove his "point", however I still found it the same boring article I read during the summer. It's not that he is a bad writer, it's just that in order to write an organized paper, this article made it extremely difficult. It clearly took one position and was a little all over the place at times. The story telling aspects make it much more interesting to me, but over all this article was a snoozer to be honest.

Where Am I?

The past few days I've been having an identity crisis.

No I haven't, but it feels like it. Going home was weird, being home was weird, and surprise, coming back was also in fact WEIRD. I guess I adjust faster than I think because when it was time for me to be picked up and taken home a whopping 10 minutes away, I wasn't really feeling it. I was used to living at school and being surrounded by all the people in my hall and floor. When I reached home I was confused and it felt new. Of course, when my friends came home I got back into the swing of everything and started hanging out with them like usual. I felt as if I were taken back in time to the summer before. Then all of a sudden it was time to go back to school and I found myself wanting more time to be with my friends. When I returned to school it was strange once again. I had grown used to the atmosphere of being home, inside a house, with either my family or my friends families!

Now, back at school for one day only I feel as if I have been here for a while already! Knowing that I will venture back home in only 2 weeks blows my mind. I am shocked at how much I am changing environments, since I have been in the same one for the past 16 years.

Roth Looking Back

While reading Goodbye, Columbus I found Roth's voice to be strong and assertive. This seems like an odd voice for a narrator but to me he seemed to know the story he was telling very well. He knew it inside and outside. It was set near his hometown and he was the expert on Neil Klugman and Brenda Patimkin. This first impression made listening/reading these outside texts very interesting considering how he now feels about this novella.

I really enjoyed the interview with Philip Roth because his character shone through as genuine and honest. He wasn't conceited or too proud of all of his accomplishments, instead he was real and looked back on one of his greatest pieces of writing, Goodbye, Columbus, with silliness. He sees this novella as something written when he was very young and had not really found himself yet. He was still searching for a voice and this story is what came of this journey. He mentions that a line the interviewer  reads was "a bad line" he wrote when he was young. This blew my mind. I hadn't seen any line in the novella that I considered "bad" but when the author of the story calls his own work bad it makes it seem a little less valuable, but at the same time it added character to Roth because of the fact that he can admit this without embarrassment.

It is interesting to hear writers talk about how they have grown and changed since their first works. Also, Roth's confusion on his earlier writings was very intriguing to me. He barely remembered the plot line of Goodbye, Columbus and didn't have too much to say about analyzing it. It seems as if everyone who reads his work analyzes it much further than he ever had, which made me think quite a bit!

LET ME SLEEP

Sleep (zZzZz) has taken on a whole new meaning since I've come to college.

I want it all the time, and I find myself engaging in it without realizing quite often.

In high school I always found myself worrying and worrying about my lack of sleep before I had to wake up at 7am the next morning. This was a constant struggle between AP classes, sports, and clubs. Now, I actually find is much easier to find time to nap and sleep all my problems away :D. Of course, I go to bed much later now because my earliest class is 9am, but overall I tend to sleep a lot more during the day now, than I did before.

Although I can sleep more, I don't necessarily sleep as well. I find that during the day I sleep much better than the night. My only explanation can be that I am used to being awake during the night and this habit has caught up with my sleeping schedule. I try a tremendous amount to go to bed early but I can never seem to reach stage 4. It's strange because during the day I have the BEST naps. My dreams are great and I fall asleep extremely quickly. Whenever I try to replicate these naps when it is bed time, I can't. Instead I toss and turn and sit there wondering what is life because I am so frustrated I can't get to sleep. I actually turn to counting sheep a lot......when I'm feeling extra hopeless.

I sit there, angry I cannot fall asleep on demand.....and then I wake up and its morning.

Looking Into Mark's Mind

Mark Athitakis’ American Fiction Notes

is an interesting blog. He focuses on more what he thinks about what "reviews" really are or key wording. It's a much more general blog than one that just simply reviews books or stories. They are more his personal thoughts which makes it more blog like for me. Also his writing style is very sophisticated yet still very interesting to read which keeps me and other readers engaged. There is also a lot of use of quotes making him seem more trustable because he has sources and they relate well to the blog post content. These also work as good examples for the reader to work off of to aid the rest of the post. He uses videos as well to help add more to the blog as we did on ours (pictures,videos,etc.). Another tactic he uses is bolding. He bolds a lot of things in this blog and it helps a lit to emphasize what he really wants to get across. When I see the bold I am drawn to it and my eyes will read that word over maybe once or twice.

Another great thing I noticed is that his paragraphs are plenteous. Everything is split up and A LOT. There are new paragraphs starting all the time and it keeps things much more organized and easy to read, rather than one long ranting post about multiple things. It also helps to navigate around the blog posts if you are looking for one specific part that you remember reading. 

I think that there are a lot of great things happening in this blog, but if I had to add one, it would be to incorporate a little more humor or a little of something else to keep readers engaged. His writing style is already pretty engaging but just to make it even MORE interesting I would like to laugh or hear more into the casual insight of who Mark Athitakis is. Overall, the blog is a bit formal, but it brings readers some great information and interesting topics to think about.