The Conclusion

Disregarding the whole Cthulu thing, my ultimate feeling of the year long blog assignment was one of evolution, and of  a great journey. Well, maybe just cool, not great. From the first blog, telling all of the three people who read it about who I am, to this, the last one, I find my self stupefied, pleased, shocked and somewhat embarrassed. Stupefied that I've written so many of the damned things in the first place, pleased for the same reason, shocked that I even bothered, and embarrassed about some of my posts in and of themselves. Especially my rampant early uncapitalized I's.

Be it ranting on whichever book we happen to be reading in class, or drawing some pile o' doody art project in ten minutes and attempting to convey symbolism and/or a deeper meaning, this blog has helped to evolve and define my current writing abilities and habits. Most prominently, it has helped me to recognize connections  between literature and the world, literature and literature, literature and movies, etc... Now I can't watch a movie without my brain constantly pointing out all the little tiny plot similarities and backdoor references to classical literature and such. Which is sometimes a curse, rather than a blessing, being as my brain is already almost too hyper-critical to bear.

Beyond writing, the blog assignments have also helped improve my work ethic, due to the fact that if you miss them, your grade gets shot in the face. I only missed a couple, but I do believe I did them late for half credit or what-have-you. Sometimes they have been stressful, which is a double edged sword, and sometimes they have been so easy I almost didn't do it. “Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.”, to quote Jules Renard, a random french guy who's quote I happened to find on the internet and thought roughly applied to the paragraph I was writing. 

I guess that's it. I've come a long way thanks to this blog, and I see it not as an end, but as a new beginning. Hell, I may even blog for personal gain now. It was for the most part a fun assignment, and definitely constructive without the slightest shadow of doubt. So, with that, I bid you adieu wonderful three person mandatoraly reading audience, and farewell to you Mrs. Gilman, and adios internet.

Love, Porter Nelson.
rofl    

Reflecting on a Memorable Assignment

Buried among the myriad essays, worksheets, forms, papers, quizzes, notes, drafts, redrafts and handouts that us freshmen get swamped with, I do believe that my favorite assignment was this last outside reading taskamabober, I only generate this opinion due to the fact that the book I got stuck in with was absolutely wonderful. On the Road rocked my socks, so to speak. 

It was the perfect surrealistic partner to Slaughterhouse 5, which was also a good read, and it really rustled my jimmies, in a good way. I think that maybe, just for reading the book, my dreams of becoming a Space President Astronaut Cowboy Psychology Major will finally come true. Not really, that is a little bit far-fetched. But it does really make me want to take a roadtrip across America. If only I knew a cat as mad as Dean.   

A Good Experience with Poetry LATE

One of my "good experiences with poetry", so to speak, was reading Dante's Inferno over the summer. I had been hearing a lot about it, and being the overcritical atheist that I am, I just had to check it out. I actually found that it was a really good poem, and was shocked to find that it was actually epic, in both senses of the word. 

It lost none of it's originally intended power through the translation process from Italian to English, and Alighieri's brilliant insanity shown through wonderfully. Be it scenes of gore, death and suffering, or deeply intuitive epigrams, the poem kept me hooked. This was one of my best experiences with poetry in my life so far, and will affect me forevermore in the sense that no other poem (save Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner or Tennyson's In Memorium) will ever be as good. 


At this point in my life, the word poetry is rather synonymous with the idea of being in the home stretch, or wrapping up a period of learning. This, clearly, is due to the end of the year being nigh and such things. Beyond that, I take a rather neutral stance towards poetry. Some  poems I find shallow and pedantic, whilst others appear deep and thoughtful. 'Tis not a static thing, this brain of mine.     

Conflict in Romeo and Juliet

One conflict i noticed in R&J and found particularly interesting was that between Tybalt and Romeo. 'Twas an interpersonal conflict I reckon. Throughout the play Tybalt displays a murderous animosity towards romeo (Prince of cats, animosity, yeah I'm just that amazing), and Romeo displays an almost infantile neutrality. This only proves to push Tybalt to new heights of unbridled hatred, so high in fact that he ends up attempting Romeo's life and taking that of Romeo's best friend, Mercutio.

In my life, in your life, in absolutely everyone on earth's (sans most Buddhist monks) life, there is interpersonal conflict. From the pettiest of arguments between pals, or the most earth-shattering wars between foreign powers, it all boils down to people conflicting with people. Every society deals with conflict in different ways. Americans may settle it over a coffee and a long talk, Brits over some tea, and Japanese over a long drawn out kung-fu fighting scene; but they are all effective ways of soothing wounded pride and the like.

yeeeeaaaaaah

Romeo and Juliet: It's Everywhere!

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S77fhOlwckE


Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nochGY7YNCw

It's a pretty obvious reference, from one of my favorite video games, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

For those who can't pick up on it, you have to "poison" a man who is being hunted, and revive him later in a church once the poison wears off. Much like Juliet avoiding Prince.

Enjoy. Also, the assassin named Hides-His-Heart is a reference to The Telltale Heart, but that's a different story from a different author.

Wrapping up Great Expectations

Dickens is a deft story-weaver, he can thread many themes plots and morals into said story, but prevails throughout the entire book. Though it's hard to put a name to the concept, "home is where the heart is", "family comes first", ...etc, they all bear the same meaning. Never be ashamed of your home, it defines who you are, never let money come first- it will consume you. There comes a time in many a young one's life when he becomes embarrassed of his home (I know I have), but i have never let it consume me and drive me to break all ties with the place from witch I hail. Others let the embarrassment seethe and fester into hatred, and eventually lose any sense of belonging which they once possessed, while others still are able to shrug it off, and realize, home is where the heart is.



what did I just write? 

Great Expectations: Thoughts on Reading

The book was, for lack of a better word, engaging. Had it not been assigned, and had I read it at a leisurely pace and of my own accord, I believe I would have found it a rather delightful read. Dickens' skill as an author goes without question, and his ability to use simple hook-and-lure tactics to engage the reader is expertly demonstrated. In a word, "what larx".

As far as a "routine" goes when it comes to my reading, well there wasn't one. Haphazard and sketchily did I read the book, but I read the whole thing and never cheated. Rather, listened to the whole thing. In lieu of drudging agonizingly through the physical book's papery marshes, I had it read to me by a rather stuffy Brit with a knack for impersonating screeching old ladies. The actual efficiency of audiobooks is questionable, for it's rather easy to become quite distracted and find yourself three or four chapters into strange territory with absolutely no clear recollection of how exactly you came to be there. That being said, it was a fun time, and a much more intellectually engaging romp than The Importance of Being Earnest was.

Um..... the end?