Tuesday, May 5, 2009

DON'T FEEL INTIMIDATED, IT'S JUST ENGLISH 111

English 111 Reflection




As I reflect back on my English 111 class with Professor Paul Gasparo, I'm just glad that it is over and done with. Not that Paul Gasparo was a bad teacher or anything, it's just that I am ready for summer and this is my last assignment for this class.

I don't really know how to describe my days in English 111 during the 8 week session. It was not a bad class but for me I always felt a little intimidated because the teacher constantly mentioned that there was going to be a lot of work for the class and sometimes it made me feel a little discouraged and wonder if maybe I should drop the class, but that was just me feeling intimidated. Because I stayed and later on after we did the first writing assignment, I realized that it was not difficult at all. So I felt that intimidating the students with all the upcoming writing assignments was just unnecessary from the teacher. So, for future students I would recommend NOT TO FEEL INTIMIDATED BY PAUL GASPARO during your first weeks of English 111 because you will do fine!

For this class, you will need to have good self discipline and time prioritizing habits aka DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. That's pretty much all you have to do. Turn the work in on time like the papers that he will be assigning you, always stay updated with your student e-mail, Blackboard, and your class calendar. It's all really easy as long as you follow every direction and get everything done on time, without putting anything off. Paul Gasparo also gives extra credit assignments so if you feel you did bad on a certain thing in his class, just keep up with all the extra credits he gives out to the class and that should raise your grade by a letter grade because most of his extra credits are 10pts each. And the best thing about this class is that the teacher actually responds to your e-mails if you have any questions about his assignments and he actually uses Blackboard, unlike some teachers which was a big pet peeve of mine. Besides the fact that this class was 3 hours long if you chose to do the dynamic session, this class is not bad at all. As long as you do not procrastinate, ask questions, keep up with the calendar, your student e-mail, and if you prioritize your time wisely I think anyone will do fine taking this class with Paul Gasparo.

Also, looking back on this class, the teacher used some helpful class time for his students and their papers like doing "peer reviews" and one "one and on teacher review" . I did not use the peer review days to my advantage but what I thought was real helpful would be the one on one teacher review. That was when the teacher gave each student a time to come in and ask him any questions they had about anything in the class for 15 minutes. I ended up bringing in my argument paper to see what the teacher thought it still needed, and he helped me out pretty well. So, I recommend this class to anyone who wants to take English 111. The teacher can be very helpful and there's some time consuming papers assigned but they are really not hard at all as long as you follow every direction, and another helpful suggestion would be to take advantage of your student e-mail and printing privileges at the library because if you take this class you will have to seriously print something out everyday and bring it in to class that very day.

Housekeeping Is A Dirty Job.. But Someone's Gotta Do It

Diagnostic Essay Finalized


If you were to ask me, “Which job has been the worst job you’ve had?” I would have to immediately scream, “Working at a nursing home!” It wasn’t that I hated old people or anything like that, but more so, it was due to a very huge misunderstanding of what my job involved me doing. My job was housekeeping and the lady who had hired me into that position sugarcoated all the work that needed to be done, leaving out the dirty work I later found out I had to do like cleaning up poop on the floor. Although I quit the housekeeping job after a month, it helped me discover my super power which made that month of working as a housekeeper a piece of cake!

During my housekeeping days, I had to do the dirties jobs ever. I did not mind the vacuuming, the dusting, and the organizing of the furniture in every senior citizens room, but what I did mind was cleaning the toilets and cleaning up after the old peoples feces. Before I discovered my super cool powers, cleaning the 56 toilets that I had to was the worst part of my day. Then when I discovered my power, it was almost as if I never cleaned any toilets at all or smelled or picked up any poop infested diapers left in the rooms. That was because my incredible powers involved being able to do whatever chore or task I needed to get done with a glimpse of my eyes. If I wanted the toilets to be cleaned, all I had to do was stare at the toilet and then *BAM* ! It's cleaned! My power made cleaning so much easier for me, and I never had to touch or ever pick up anymore poo carrying diaper.

Also, another thing I liked most about my power was the fact that I could clean anything outside of work in a jiffy and not ever break a sweat. Not only did my power make my work easier, but it also made my life easier. There was no more taking almost an hour to clean my car and cleaning up my room only took a glimpse and it's clean! Before, whenever I was ordered a chore either at work or anywhere I went, it was such a drag. Then after discovering my power, it became so much easier because I never ever had to do anything. Anything I want done I just had to take a glimpse at and it was done.

I could not ask for a better power to have, but for every great power comes great responsibility. I use my power all the time at work whenever no one is looking, but later on I taught myself only to use it with certain situations. That is to use it on only situations or tasks that are unbearable to do because when I overuse my power, I start to become real lazy. Sometimes it gets hard not to use my great power on things, but I do my best t
o fight it and not take advantage of it.

In conclusion, I could not ask for a better power to help make my dirtiest jobs at work the cleanest. I would never have to go back to housekeeping worried about how many diapers I will have to pick up, or worry about how many poo infested toilets I will have to scrubs down. Having my power has really made my life so much easier and I can't remember the last time broke a sweat from doing a chore for my parents or my work. For example, like mowing the lawn. Like I said all I have to do is take a glimpse at what needs to be done and
then *BAM* ! It is all done. I have the sweetest power in the entire world.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

EXTRA CREDIT POST 1

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

After watching the Wolverine movie, I looked back at all the things I liked about the movie and the things I did not like. Througout the entire movie, I was really upset with the character Stryker. I didn't like how Stryker was so manipulative of every character and their powers. For example, Stryker made a deal with Kayla Silverfox about her sister's captivation, and when Kayla had done what Stryker needed her to do, Stryker didn't stick to his words and refused to free Kayla's sister. Although I didn't like Kayla's character at one point for going along with Stryker's evil plan, I wasn't so upset with her character anymore in the end because she made up for it and she told Wolverine the truth. And the truth was that she did it for her sister and that deep down she really did love Wolverine. Too bad Kayla had to get shot and die in the end, but it showed how good of a person she was when she could've just seduced Stryker to shoot himself in the head, but instead she tells him to just walk away and to keep walking until his feet starts to bleed, and then to just keep walking after. It made me feel sad because after Stryker shot Wolverine in the head multiple times, once Wolverine saw Kayla, he didn't even know who she was since he had forgotten everything.

I thought Agent Zero was really cute, but he was still a horrible character in my eyes since he shot those two innocent old people who was helping Wolverine out. That really made me sad when the old lady got shot out of nowhere. I thought that Agent Zero should have been smart enough not to go and chase after Wolverine because just because he's a really good shooter, doesn't make him invincible like Wolverine. Wolverine can get shot at a million times and not die, versus Agent Zero who can shoot real well and get shot at and die that very second. Therefore, although Agent Zero was very cute, he was just not match for Wolverine.

Next, what I did like about the movie was when it was revealed that Sabertooth did not really kill Kayla and when Sabertooth saved Wolverine in the end, helping Wolverine fight the character who played Stryker's mutated son. I felt it was really sweet when Sabertooth told Wolverine how they would always look out for each other, before he went off his way. Finally, after watching the movie, my favorite characters became Wolverine, Gambit, the two old couple, and of course, Professor Xavier. Throughout the entire movie Wolverine was always a fair and good guy, there wasn't a time during the movie where I didn't like him. Gambit also because he helped Wolverine get into the island, and he was cute. Next, I chose the two old couple who got shot because they were so sweet and caring towards Wolverine, and not a lot of people would reach out a hand to anyone as much as they did to Wolverine, even after Wolverine broke their bathroom sink and all. And lastly, another favorite character of mine was Professor Xavier because he took in all the mutants and if you watched X-Men 1, it shows how he took care of all the mutants as if they were all his kids and I liked that he treated all of them that way compared to how Stryker treated them. Stryker treated them like animals and I felt that was so wrong. In conclusion, even with my least favorite characters, I thought that the movie X-men Origins: Wolverine was a pretty good movie, and I would definitely watch it again or get it on dvd once it comes out.


Monday, April 27, 2009

To Touch Or Not to Touch Poop?



Diagnostic Essay - First Draft


If you were to ask me, “Which job has been the worst job you’ve had?” I would have to immediately scream, “Working at a nursing home!” It wasn’t that I hated old people or anything like that, but more so, it was due to a very huge misunderstanding of what my job involved me doing. Although I ended up working at that nursing home for less than two weeks, in my mind it was still the worst job I have ever had.

It all started when my mom had told me to apply as a housekeeper at this one nursing home near our place called “Our Lady of Perpetual Help”. I thought it was a brilliant idea knowing that I did needed some extra cash, but most of all, because my mom had said that she had some friends work there before and from what she heard, it was just a bunch of dusting, a little bit of cleaning (which supposedly wasn’t much at all, due to the fact that most of the senior citizens living in that nursing home barely did a lot of moving, according to my mom), and some organizing/rearranging of their bedrooms. Still thinking it was a great idea, I headed over to the nursing home the very next day, and I was hired on the spot as a housekeeper! For a second I felt it was a little bit too good to be true, but when the head of housekeeping had pretty much assured me the same exact job tasks my mother had mentioned the previous day, I felt relieved thinking it’d be a piece of cake, and I went on thinking nothing of it. That day I got hired, I was told that my training day was also that very same week so I decided to buy my uniform that night, until the only thing I had left to do was come into work for my training.

On the day of my training, I was pretty excited to learn the ropes with my trainer, Ms.Alnova. She was very pleasant, and she just kept telling me how easy of a job it was as she showed me around the nursing home. She showed me all sections of the nursing home I had to cover, and they were mainly the bedrooms of the senior citizens who lived there and each room consisted of one bathroom and window. During the training she told me that my only tasks were to dust, open the blinds once the resident of that room has awaken, rearrange certain items when misplaced (like if the soap bar was on the carpet instead of the sink), refill the hand soap if necessary, and to change the trash if it were ever full. Then she asked me if I had the hang of it already, and not thinking twice, I answered, “Yes”, since I thought there really wasn’t much too it. It wasn’t until she had taken me out of her wing and had left the building that I realized how much my “yes” should have been a “no, no, no”.

Right after Ms.Alnova had gone off for the day, I picked up from where we left off. Ms.Alnova and I had done 3 rooms together, meaning I only had 22 more rooms to go since there were only 25 bedrooms in each section. After doing 4 bedrooms on my own, a nurse who worked with the caretakers in that section of the nursing home approached me. First she greeted me with a warm welcome then she came back with a toilet cleaner, thinking I had forgot to carry it around with me that day. I was in shock because in my head I was thinking of how sure I was that Ms.Alnova never mentioned to me that type of dirty work involving feces. So politely, I asked the nurse, “Are you sure that’s a part of my job?” and she replied confidently “Yes, that’s also a housekeeper’s job honey” continuing it with “especially when the toilets are clogged (which does happens often here), or if there are any feces lying around, you guys pick those up along with the used diapers you’ll find in the rooms also, but don’t worry, when that happens just ask us nurses for special gloves.” And I knew right then and there that I had finally found the downside of my job.

I couldn’t believe how uninformed I was and after cleaning and unclogging more than 8 overflowing-feces-filled-toilets that day, the image of my sugarcoated dream job just vanished. I was so upset, and it made sense in my head why everyone was saying that there was barely any dusting, rearranging and all that other easy task to do in those rooms, and it was basically because all your time goes to the toilets making sure it’s clean in and out, wiping pee spills, cleaning up the feces that have missed the toilets, unclogging toilets, moping the bathroom floors, and picking up smelly diapers that the nurses just throw on the floor for you to pick up every day. It was the worst job I’ve ever had and I couldn’t wait to go home in the end of every shift just to take the longest shower of my life, making sure I had not one particle of poop on me. I eventually quit that job after less than two weeks, and my reason was far from the truth, but Ms.Alnova was very understanding and I was glad, but deep down my evil side was whispering, “Yeah, you better be understanding.. You just tricked me and left out the horrible things about housekeeping!” But of course, I kept all that inside and walked away with a smile and a lesson learned. Never do housekeeping ever again!