Defend Yourself!

Today in class we had a long discussion about the moral dilemma Clive faced as he watched a women getting attacked, but did not try to help her. A few people brought up the point, "what could he have done?" and I agree, in a situation like this, it would be very hard to turn into a superhero-like character and beat up the bad guy. In the end, you would probably end with the same fate as the original victim. So, I have decided to help out my fellow AP English-ers, both against potential attackers and the internal conflict that would come if you could not step in and help someone in need. (Statistically, with an assault every 17 seconds, one day this will actually help someone out)

First, here's a women's guide to defending yourself against a male attacker. These are the top five self-defense techniques I found:
1. Mace is very effective. So are stun guns, tasers, and batons. Luckily, I think all of these household items can be picked up at your local Walmart. The site also recommends that you "practice" them. I am going to veto this idea.
2. Keep space between you and your attacker. If your attacker is on top of you, use all your force to push them off. I also believe this would be an appropriate time to utilize the stun gun, taser, baton, and mace you have conveniently stored in your purse.
3. Go for the eyes. Not only should mace find its way into your attackers eyes, but so should your fingers! Specifically, thumbs. Jab those babies right in there, and "press in as though you were launching his eyeballs way out of his skull." Beautiful.
4. Kicking is good! Two great places to kick: groin (common sense) and knees. The site suggests that a swift kick to the groin will successfully take down your attacker. However, a kick to the throat will provide a nice touch also. Apparently, high heels come in handy in this sort of defense. Fortunately, not only will you be kicking butt, you will look gooood doing it.
5. Elbows. Elbow that attacker right in the stomach. Or in the throat. If your attacker is very fat or has a very thick neck, this may not be the best technique for you.

Also under this category, I found this website that has more great tips, and also a site where you can buy hot pink mace! A must-have in every girls handbag if I do say so myself.
http://www.squidoo.com/self-defense-products-for-women

Secondly, here's some tips for men that could aid them in defending themselves against male attackers. I know this probably offends some of you macho men out there, but outside the mean streets of Chag. Falls you never know what could happen.
1. If the attacker asks for your wallet, cell phone, or any other possession, hand it over. Mommy will  buy you a new iPhone 4. She can't if you're dead.
2. They also suggest pepper spray, tasers, and  batons for men. May I also suggest a lovely murse (man-purse) to carry these lovely belongings in? And if the pink mace doesn't tickle your fancy, I'm sure you can find a pretty purple or green somewhere else!
3. Learn martial arts. Schedule an appointment with Jillian, perhaps?
4. Appear strong. Most of you do this on a daily basis, so you can probably skip this tip.
5. You can fight your attacker if that's what it comes to. A few things you can do: grab their hair and smash their face with your knee. I am not responsible for the blood stains on your designer jeans. Punch the attacker very hard in the nose. Please don't hurt your fist in this process. This is a personal tip, but I think if someone grabs you it's always effective to do the "dead weight" technique where you just basically go limp and don't hold up or control any of your limbs. Very fun and very effective.

I considered posting about men getting attacked by women, but when I looked it up online I only found cases of domestic abuse. I'm thinking right now no one really needs some tips protecting them from their angry spouse.

I hope all of these tips were very helpful and one day you can protect yourself from a potential attacker with no problem! Plus, the fact that you even educate yourself with this information means you're one step ahead of Clive! Bravo!

Senior Project Disappointment

Senior Project. Something many of us have been looking for even before the beginning of our senior year. It's more than the fact that we don't have to spend our last three weeks of high school actually IN the school. It's an opportunity (if you take advantage of it, that is) to do something you really enjoy. What you do for your Senior Project can actually have a huge effect, it can help you determine what you want to do for the rest of your life. This is how I view it, at least, and I made the decision almost a year ago about what I wanted to do for my senior project. It's no secret that I love baking. In the summer I tried a different cupcake flavor every week, ranging from Cookies and Cream to Cosmopolitan (both delicious, may I add).  Anyway, I have an uncle that owns a catering company. He's catered a few parties we've had at my house, including my sister's graduation party, and it the food has always been amazing! I thought working with him would be perfect. So, a little while ago, I asked him if he would be my mentor, and he said yes! I was so excited about this opportunity because I knew the three weeks would be a lot of fun for me. Then, today, the saddest thing happened. I decided to blog about it, sparring my friends the whining from me for the next couple weeks. Here I go... Today, as I was reading the info, I realized one of the rules on the list was that you couldn't complete your project with a relative, or a relative's company (even if your mentor isn't your relative). This really frustrated me, because I honestly can't understand why it wouldn't be acceptable to do your project with a relative. Sure, one could make the argument that maybe the process wouldn’t be as serious with a relative. But, truly, I could find someone I am not related to and my project would be a joke. It really would not take a relative to make the difference between serious work and three weeks of laziness. Some people chose to do something easy for their project, yet I try to pick something that would actually take time and energy, but people assume it would be the opposite just because my uncle would be in charge of me? That’s illogical. If anything, I think a relative would truly have your best interest at heart and they would try to make the experience even more educational and let you get even more involved. Also, I feel that I would get a much more hands-on experience by doing the project with my uncle. I’m sure many chefs would have a difficult time allowing a high school student to take over and actually work in the kitchen. I know that my uncle trusts my abilities and wouldn’t think twice about letting me take on a lot of responsibility. I don’t mean to rant, I just was really upset when I realized I couldn’t do the PERFECT project simply because I’m related to the owner of the business. Today, I’ve had a very hard time thinking of anything else, and I figured the blog is the ideal way to get all of this off my chest, even if no one is reading it! 

One of my many experiments: S'mores Cupcakes!

The Wonderful Word of Blogging

Before this project, I knew a lot about blogging because I read one just about every day. It was definitely something I found interesting, but I never thought I would be able to manage a blog all by myself. Not only did it seem like a big responsibility, but I knew I would never be able to come up with an interesting post every week. However, after doing this English blog for nine weeks now, I feel like I could really get the hang of this and one day I would actually enjoy  having my own blog with real followers. By starting at the bottom, I can actually see myself moving forward with this hobby and creating a really involved and complicated blog. This is the first reason I really enjoyed this blogging project, it really helped me learn about blogging, something I was always interested in before but probably never would have actually done.

Every week, whether it was in English class or any other time, any time something interested came up, I immediately thought of a way I could incorporated whatever it was into my blog. I also really enjoyed the blogs because I thought about English in a much different way than I did before. I tried to find creative approaches to write interesting things that always related to our English reading, discussion, or work. This gave English class so much more variety, while also making English more of a part of my life. Instead of dreading long in-class essays or Data Sheets, I actually enjoyed sitting in front of my computer and typing my blog, and everything was even more enjoyable when I made it on Bobbie's Blog Banter the next day. Not only did I enjoy writing my blog, but I LOVED reading other people's blogs. Some people are very quiet in class, and usually things stay very on-topic. So, it was a lot of fun reading the different opinions and stories of everyone.

Without the blogs, we would've never have experienced Bobbie's Blog Banter. And now, with the addition of music, the beginning of English class is guaranteed to be entertaining. The intense competition of discussions got toned down a little, because the competition to be featured on the show is definitely a much healthier one. The blogging allowed us to take a more light-hearted approach to English, now that as students we see that it is perfectly fine not to analyze every single thing that is put before us. Now we all have grown not only as English students, but as normal human beings.

All in all, I had a great experience with the blogs and I really hope we continue with them next semester. Even with the reemergence of poetry papers, I think I would really like having this blog as an outlet to all the craziness from English. Plus I really think it let all of us get closer, because everyone's reading things from their classmates that they probably wouldn't have ever before. And what better time to get close to your fellow AP English-ers than the 2nd semester of our senior year?

I've Grown!

For as long as I can remember, I've been putting homework off until the night before it's due. Whether its a project, studying, or a simple worksheet, I never seem to find the motivation to start it early. Every week, I've almost consistently done one blog on Thursday and another on Sunday. I even dedicated a whole post to my procrastination. However, I'm proud to say, I think I've finally outgrown this. At least when it comes to Data Sheets (which I think is probably the bet thing not to procrastinate). Here's how I know I've finally grown:

Our first dip in the Data Sheet pool, Othello. With this Data Sheet, we were given a good amount of time in class to work. I did not take advantage of this time like I should have. Sure, I got some work done, but as others cranked out pages and pages, I just kept flipping the pages in my book trying to find memorable quotes. The Data Sheet was due on a Friday. I had maybe one page done for Thursday. So, I came straight home from school, parked myself in my room with my computer, and worked on my Data Sheet. However, knowing it was my last night still wasn't even enough to make me stay 100% on task. With that data sheet, I was up until 4:45 a.m. working. It was a while ago, but if I remember correctly, I also had a little more work to do the next morning. I got about 1 hour of sleep. Not good. Data Sheet experience #1? Major fail.

Moving on, The Namesake. I took more advantage of our in-class time, and I remember for the Thursday I had about 8 pages done. This made the work a little easier, but I still believe I was up working until about 2 a.m. Data Sheet experience #2? Sub-par.

Now, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I am proud of this one. Sure, I had a plan to spend one day over break and just get the whole thing done. That didn't happen. But, as I returned to school last Monday I knew I had to change my ways and get the data sheet done early. I actually worked on it Monday and Tuesday night, and Wednesday afternoon and night. And even though we didn't get class time to work, I actually spent my commons AND lunch periods working on it! Working on my homework during school when it's not due that day is a very new thing for me. And I enjoyed being productive during my commons period, I actually may start doing that more often. Anyway, working every day before, I was able to enjoy my Thursday and not spend the whole night ripping out my hair due to my alarming stress level. I got a normal amount of sleep, and had no work to do the next morning. Data Sheet experience #3? Awesome.

It's really a good feeling being able to see how much I've progressed over the past semester. I'm so glad that I've finally overcome my procrastination. My next Data Sheet will be done before we even receive the rubric sheet. I really hope this moves on into the other aspects of my life.