Fear of noises, darkness and that one shadow in the kitchen^_^

When I was younger, during my elementary and middle school years, I was afraid of all the sounds made when trying to fall asleep, the darkness, and a particular shadow I saw one morning when I was eating breakfast. I remember hearing lots of creaks and taps in the walls or on the ceiling that sounded ironically strange when I went to bed. It would cease my ability to fall asleep for many minutes that felt like hours. One time I slept over at my step-cousin’s town house, and I kept on hearing these tapping noises in the walls. The room we were sleeping in had a window that created weird shadows and heat ceased to exist. At first, I was pooping myself because the daylights were literally scared out of me, but after awhile it started to get annoying. So, as a way to cope with the continuing sounds, I decided to think about happy moments in life. If my step-cousin, Cinjin, was awake, we would make a list of all the hottest babes we knew. I found that way of coping much more appealing, but Cinjin tended to fall asleep fast so I had to resort to the alternate solution, thinking about happy times. I believe that might be one of the key reasons I slept in my mom and dad’s room for awhile because their conversations and deep snores kept me relaxed and not worrying about having to figure out what the random sounds were. Then, there was the darkness that consumed my ability to fall asleep. There is this one quote that I will never forget from a show called “Supernatural”. One of the main characters said, “You should always be afraid of the dark because you never know what is out there.” It’s true because the darkness definitely forced me to use my camp snoopy night light until I was about 8 years old. Sometimes when I was sleeping, I would see shadows or imaginary figures in the darkness of my room. Finally, the shadow that I saw one morning when I was eating breakfast was definitely one of the scariest moments in my life. It was an early Monday morning and I was eating breakfast before I left for the bus stop. It was pretty dark outside, due to the long winter nights, so I had a set of lights on when I was eating my breakfast. I was sitting near the edge of my dinner table when I saw a swift shadow movement from my right. I nearly fell out of my chair and dropped my breakfast onto myself. With wide open eyes and a fast heartbeat I broke out in laughter because I thought in my head, “It’s a freaking Monday morning!” Then, after school I told my sister, Christina, and my mom about the whole situation. My sister laughed at me and said I was hilarious, but my mom had a reasonable explanation. She said, “It was probably just you’re shadow when you were getting up.” For a second I didn’t think that could be true because my peripherals usually don’t lie, but I thought about it for a good two to three minutes and I chuckled again. In comparison, I think my fears have significant similarities with the boys’ fears in William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, because their fears involve a lot of mentality. Mentality can definitely affect a person’s fears and change their thoughts.

Final Blog

I thought some of the following Web 2.0 programs were helpful in expressing my ideas and opinions: Google Docs, Wikispace, and Blogger. The implementation of this technology helped make English 11 easier in many ways. Because many assignments required us to use these technologies, we learned and experienced a whole new way of doing homework and collaborating online. I had the most fun with Wikispace, but the most helpful program was Google Docs. When I didn’t have time to use Writer’s Helper in class, I could always resort to emailing my essay to one of my trusted friends to edit my essay for me. In short, Google Docs made editing essays more convenient because they could edit it on their own time. I also enjoyed using Wikispace. It’s very much like a Myspace, but more educational. In the beginning of using Wikispace I had a hard time getting used to formatting texts and inserting pictures to display the motives of my Wikispace. All in all, I think these programs will help us not only next semester, but also for the long grueling years in college.

RE: English 11 First Task

There have been many times in my life where I have experienced the statement Macbeth made, “There’s daggers in men’s smiles.” These are the times I have been deceived and tricked or otherwise just lured into a lose-lose situation. I remember playing various amounts card games with my family and relatives. The games, filled with action packed suspense followed by instant pouting and bragging, included Texas Hold ‘Em and Bomb, a card game which I’m not sure if it’s official or not. These games took place in the frigid, dimly lit basement or the living room with a fairly round table to enable a good amount of players. When I was still a rookie at these two games, the more experienced card players, who were my brothers and uncle, definitely took advantage of me. They convinced me, with their evil intentions to take away my dignity and will to win, to make the silliest moves that resulted in a definite loss. My uncle, Ocean, made me look like a fool several times. He owns the table most of the time and wins with ease. He uses very good bluffing skills while playing poker and very good logical skills when playing Bomb. The daggers weren’t really in his smile, but rather his facial expressions and body language. He often misleads me by acting as if I had the upper hand in either card game. In poker, I’d say he uses the daggers most effectively than any other player I’ve ever played against in my family. Although my brothers are deadly assailants with their own daggers, my uncle knows how to gain the upper hand of the card games we play. I remember this one instance where he convinced me that my two pairs were definite winners, so I put all my chips in and I knew he would call. He did and then we laid our cards down. At that moment, my heart dropped and I felt embarrassed. I thought I had him beat, but he had a three of a kind. I couldn’t believe it. He convinced me to put everything on the line just to lose. My brothers rarely had the kind of daggers my uncle possessed. They often gave away their poker hand by giggling or smiling when they had a good hand. I also did that during my rookie days, but ever since I turned 16 I suppressed myself. When I did this, my brothers also stopped giggling. I think they were just trying to psyche me out when I was a rookie and now they’re taking me a little more serious. Ever since the first time my uncle played me like a fool I’ve always tried to get him back with the same kind of tactics he used on me, but I learned that finding a way to beat him is much more fun than just trying to copy him. From these card games, I’ve learned that the “daggers in men’s smiles”, are hard to pick out and counter effectively. Although being deceived means losing some morality and confidence in the process of dealing with such obstacles, it’s an experience that is inevitable.

Starting Out

Well, this is my first post. To be honest, I've never really blogged all that much so this is still new to me. Hopefully this will be a useful source to express our ideas in English 11 with more creativity!