Character Study (III)

As my group talked today, we got to talking about where we are putting in our East/West characters in. So this is a bit more in the story.

The three characters that we chose to be in this were Dan Smith, Eeeeeeeeee-Eeeeeeeee, and Davoin Shower-Handel

Smith and Shower-Handel are both policemen that are chasing after Nakesha's character because of her escaping from her city. Eeeeeeeeeee-Eeeeeeeee is a friend of X'O and Sam's due to the fact they are all in a hip hop group. Then as mentioned in the last post (I think?) Smith and Shower-Handel are chasing after Nakesha, then runs into the three of us getting out of a gig in France, and she asks us to protect her. After trying some distractions, I end up shining my bald head blinding the two. As she then comes with us on our bus, she tells us her story, and how she's on the run, and that a voice in her head influenced her to do it. But it wasn;t a voice in her head, it was Lissette (who's character is an ant) telling her to do these things. The group is now driving down to Spain. And that's about what we have for now.

Character Study (II)

Right now in my group's (Me, Ricky, Nakesha, and Lissette) story all the characters are being put into place. Nakesha's character is currently on the run from the police, and runs into a hip hop concert that's going on. The band playing happens to have Ricky (X'O) and me in the band. This eventually leads to us having to defeat the police and going on the run with Nakesha. There's still a few gaps we need to fill in the story, but it's going good.

CHARACTER STUDY

Also along this journey was a man by the name of Sam. From where he is from, he is known as the most handsomest, bravest and most importantly handsome men around. He has been quite a hero, like the time he saved a giant group of orphans from a burning building, or the time that he lured someone by jumping off a building by playing an excellent cover of "Jumper" by Third Eye Blind.

Along with his good looks, he was quite buff and always told people that he lifts, which he does. He also had a bright shining bald head, so shiny, you could see your reflection in it. It has been told by others that if you rub his head, and get a touch of his magic hair, it will grant you wishes. But needless to say, no one ever got a wish granted.

Canterbury Tales

Something that really stuck out to me in the story is the use of irony throughout the prologue. I thought it was quite humorous and grabbed my attention and grabbed my attention because of the humor, like the monk being a hunter, and the nun having a lot of jewelry.

If we were to look into more of the story, I'd like to see the story of the monk, and see if he has more ironic lifestyle of a monk

Netvibes

I have now officially made a Netvibes dashboard. Right now it's just plain and simple. I have the weather, a couple of news sources to check up on current events, and I also put in the little email panel in there just take a quick email check. This is good for now. I plan on expanding and adding a couple more things in there as I get more used to it and explore it more.

Vocab #6

As a note, instead of copying and pasting my last ones, I'm going back and redoing all of the definitions and sentences. If any are similar, or even exactly the same, then it's completely coincidental, no sarcasm.

Obsequious: Obedient is an annoying fashion

"The staff is very superb, they are very attentive without being obsequious"

Beatitude: Supreme blessedness or happiness

"When I approached him, he greeted me with much beatitude, which made my day a lot better."

Bete Noire: A person or thing that one dislikes or dreads

"My math class is my least favorite class because I can't stand my teacher, he is a bete noire of mine."

Dank: Unpleasantly damp, musty or humid

"The old cellar was quite cold and dank when we went to explore it."

Ecumenical: General or universal

"Every book the author writes has a theme intended to be ecumenical."

Fervid: Heated in spirit or enthusiasm

"The general store has been open for twenty years, definitely due to the owner's fervid hard work."

Fetid: Having bad or offensive odor

"The cheese was quite delicious, but was also quite fetid when opened from the wax."

Gargantuan: Gigantic

"The building was quite gargantuan being about 38 stories high."

Heyday: A period of great success

"The owner reflected on the heyday of his store when he'd get about 700 customers a day."

Incubus: Something that worries something greatly

"Jim had an Incubus of having his essay done by the deadline."

Infrastructure: The basic framework of an organization

"The organization has been around for quite some time, probably because of their good infrastructure."

Inveigle: To convince by flattery

"The magician with his perfect charms was always able to inveigle people from the audience to be volunteers."

Kudos: Honor, glory, or acclaim

"He has received many kudos for his hard work in science."

Lagniappe: An unexpected benefit

"After doing his essay and finding out it wasn't due the day he though, he got a lagniappe of having no homework the next day."

Prolix: To extend to unnecessary length

"The teacher prolixed the assignment and added 4 more pages of reading."

Protege: Someone under protection of something

"He was a protege to his insurance company in case he was ever in an accident."

Prototype: An early form of something, that a model is based off of

"When at the factory, you can always see some early prototypes of motor vehicles."

Sycophant: A self-seeking servile flatterer

"Everyone remembered him as his sycophant, or his sidekick at times."

Tautology: Repeating a general idea but with different wording or phrases

"The teacher frequently used tautology on his students in hope they would understand better."

Truckle: To submit or yield obsequiously

"He always tried to truckle poor ideas to his boss, and always was rejected."

Accolade: An award or honor

"The Nobel Peace prize is one of the highest accolades that one can receive."

Acerbity: Harshness or severity

"For some reason, after not seeing his friend for quite some time, his friend greeted him with much unneeded acerbity."

Attrition: A decrease in numbers

"Sales in watches went through a large attrition since they put a clock on the smart phone."

Bromide: One who is boring

"Everyone avoided him at parties and gatherings because he was very bromide, like telling very uninteresting stories."

Chauvinist: One who has a lot of pride over their country

"Bill was quite the chauvinist when it came to America. He always was the first to launch fireworks on The Fourth Of July."

Chronic: Recurring or constant

"She has had a long history of chronic migraines."

Expound: To explain in detail

"Since his brother didn't understand, he had to expound the instructions over and over again."

Factionalism: Being or belonging to a faction

"Factionalism was quite common in early forms of government."

Immaculate: Spotlessly clean

"His mom wouldn't let him have friends over until the entire house was immaculate."

Imprecation: A curse

"The team was having their worst season yet, they were under a terrible imprecation."

Ineluctable: Incapable of being evaded

"It always seemed that she was ineluctable when she went out in public, and always saw people she knew."

Mercurial: Lively, animated

"No one ever understood why he was so mercurial, even on the earliest of mornings."

Palliate: To relieve without curing

"He thought telling his friend jokes would palliate his friend's depression."

Protocol: An original draft

"The team reviewed the protocol of the document and talked about what needed improving."

Resplendent: Shining brilliant

He was quite a resplendent student, having a GPA of 4.3

Stigmatize: To put a mark or disgrace upon

"The murders he committed stigmatized his family to a great extent."

Sub Rosa: Secret or private

"The couple kept their engagement sub rosa until they found an appropriate time to announce it to their friends and family."

Vainglory: Excessive pride over an achievement

"He had a large vainglory over his good test score that lasted for a few days."

Vestige: A trace of something that was there before

"Fossils are a vestige of the dinosaurs."

Volition: Choosing or making a decision on one's will

"She left home and moved away on her own volition."

WHAT A CHARACTER

To me, a character that struck out to me would be Beowulf. I think the main reason was because I like the way he was characterized in the story of Beowulf, and in my mind, he easily stuck out because he showed good example of a dynamic character. As talked about, he proved to be quite cocky in the beginning of the story, and as the story progressed after his battle with Grendel, he started to mature more and realize what power he had. To me, the reason why it also stuck was because it gave me a good understanding of the dynamic character.

DECLARATION OF LEARNING INDEPENDENCE

I, Sam Wellard, take such tools of open source learning as my way of education. With these, I will try to reach one of the highest goals that I have in class, which to prove to myself that I can be a great student, and along with that, I hope to use such knowledge and skills we receive in this class, and use it for the future that lies ahead, which will be for college, and I will apply such skills to whatever course or class needed.

Vocab #5

Obsequious: Being obedient in a rather irritating way

"The servant was quite obsequious by following the king's every step while trying to serve him."

Beatitude: Supreme happiness

"He was filled with mush beatitude when he got a 97% on his math test."

Bete Noire: A person or thing that someone strongly dislikes or dreads

"Oh, he's a bete noire, from my view, he's always so rude to me."

Bode: To portend

The news bode quite well for him

Dank: Unpleasantly moist, humid, or damp

"The rain and and the cold temperature made the whether quite dank."

Ecumenical: General or universal

"The author intended to have his book give a ecumenical message to it."

Fervid: Heated or hot

"My ears are quite fervid, that means someone's talking about me!"

Fetid: Having An offensive odor

"While the cheese had quite a unique taste, it was also very fetid."

Gargantuan: Giant, enormous

"The new building across the street is very gargantuan, having 40 stories."

Heyday: A period of great success

"I fondly remember the heyday of my business, where we had about 600 customers coming in each day.''

Incubus: (Well besides a really, really good alternative rock band) A nightmare

"In her sleep, it seemed she was sleeping quite peacefully until her dream turned into an incubus, and woker her up."

Infrastructure: The basic framework or features to a system or organization

"The city has a well-developed infrastructure."

Inveigle: To convince

"He had to inveigle the city to donate money for funding for a park."

Kudos: Honor, glory, acclaim

"He was given much kudos for his study in antibiotics."

Lagniappe: An unexpected benefit

"After Jimmy crammed in doing all of his homework, the next day, the teacher said it was not due until the day after next, so he had much free time that night, which was a lagniappe."

Prolix: Extended to unnecessary length

"The teacher prolixed the assignment by adding more pages of reading."

Protege: A person under care of something

"He was a protege to his car insurance."

An original model for something, which something is later based off of

"The company built prototypes to a new car which is only in designing stage."

Sycophant: A self-seeking, servile flatterer

"People always remembered him as the sycophant, the loyal sidekick to Bill."

Tautology: Needless repetition of an idea

"His idea went through much tautology, because he wanted to be sure he got his idea in his friend's head."

Truckle: To submit obsequiously

"He always truckled the most terrible ideas to his boss."
 

Literature Analysis #1

On the book Yes Man by Danny Wallace1. Yes Man is about Daniel Wallace, and how he lived quite a redundant and boring life. He doesn't get out too often, and usually declines offers from friends for social outings, and usually likes to be alone. One day, he was riding on the bus, and a random stranger by him randomly says aloud, "Say yes more,", and all of a sudden, it was like an epiphany to him. He then decided to say "yes" more for one year, his year as a "Yes Man". Just because of that, him saying "yes", led to more wonderful opportunities. 

2. Well, I think the theme right here is pretty obvious, and the theme of the story here is what the random man on the bus said, and that is to say "yes" more. Reading all the opening opportunities for Daniel, and a couple life-changing things that has happened to Daniel, it can really inspire us to just say the simple word, "yes" more often. You'll never know what will happen.

3.The author's tone in the story is quite upbeat and happy, mainly due to his recent epiphany of what he heard on the bus. He seems quite enthusiastic when talking. Here are some examples:

"...sometimes when I'm excited and inspired, I tend to leap up stair, when should realize that I live on the fourth floor and such exertions do not become me."

"Suddenly, I wanted to do that. I wanted to paint a man's privates blue and handcuff him to buffet cars!"

(Reaction to an email simply saying "do you have an invention?")"I bristled in excitement. Now, technically, no, I didn't have an invention. I had no invention at all. But this tiny advert was an opportunity. An opportunity to try my hand at something new. I could invent something! Maybe that's why I was put here on Earth! To be an inventor!"

4. First off, one literary element right off the bat here is how Daniel is a dynamic character. He went from his non-outgoing lifestyle, but when saying "yes" more, he became quite a happier and enthusiastic man, and it showed. 

In the story, a few hyperboles were used, which were used to show off his excitement of saying "yes" more. For example, when he hears the phrase, while it was a small simple sentence, he went out to call it "an epiphany", and was thrilled about doing that, also shown in question #3.

The story has a quite uplifting mood throughout it. The author's purpose of doing that is to show that he has become much happier since doing his year as a Yes Man.

The narrator of the story is the author himself, which gives a much better understanding of his story since it's from his point of view.

Right in the first chapter, the author uses a narrative method, and easily explains the setting and general plot of what will happen.

The author frequently uses amplification throughout the book, so he can give more insight to what he thinks, instead of having simple plain sentences. One example is in Chapter 1, page 5, describing what he felt after hearing "say yes more".

"But it's still an epiphany. And I'm still smiling from what I've heard, smiling from what I've learned. I started to wonder whether anyone else is feeling the same."

There is a small part of the story that reflects tragedy. In Chapter 24, his time of being a Yes Man ends when he makes a refusal to his girlfriend for a trip to see her in Australia, which then their relationship fell apart temporarily, and ended Danny's year as a Yes Man.

The author uses many denotations throughout the book. These denotations are mostly his choices of saying "yes" to offers. For example, starting on Chapter 2, page 19, when he replies "yes" to all emails he receives.

Last, the author includes a prologue and an epilogue. The prologue at the beginning describes a little bit of what is to come in the story, and the epilogue at the end talks about what happened after his time of being a Yes Man.

ALL OF THE ABOVE

My answers (with correction if wrong)

1. E (C)
2. A
3. D (C)
4. E
5. B (D)
6. D
7. D (E)
8. B
9. B (E)
10. E (C)
11. D
12. B
13. D (B)
14. B (C)
15. E (A)
16. B
17. C
18. D (E)
19. C (A)
20. E (B)
21. E
22. B (E)
23. D (A)
24. A
25. C
26. E
27. E (D)
28. D (C)
29. A
30. D (B)
31. D (B)
32. E (D)
47. E (B)
48. B (A)
49. E (C)
50. D
51. B (C)
52. B
53. D (E)
54. D (B)
55. D (A)
56. C (B)
57. C
58. A (D)
59. D (E)
60. E (B)
61. E (A)

So I won't lie, I wasn't really expecting to do that well on this. One thing that probably attributed to this was that the day I did this, I was under a lot of stress for a lot of other homework I did that day, so I wasn't quite plugged in when doing this. However, I could probably do a lot better on something like this when I'm more plugged in, focused, and less stressed.

Vocab #4

Accolade- An award or honor

"He has received an accolade for his research in medicine."

Acerbity- Harshness or severity

"He was showing much acerbity when he told the student how bad he did on his test."

Attrition- A decrease in numbers, or size

"Sales of watches have gone through an attrition since people have clocks on their phone."

Bromide- Someone who is boring

"The people at the party think he's quite bromide because he says quite uninteresting stories."

Chauvinist- One who is very patriotic

"He is quite the chauvinist, and goes all out on The 4th Of July."

Chronic- Constant, ongoing/continuing

"He's been having a history of chronic migraines for 3 years."

Expound- Explain or state in detail

"He had to expound to his friend the directions to the model airplane."

Factionalism- Being in part of a faction or location

"Factionalism was common in early politics."

Immaculate- Spotlessly clean

"Mom would not let friends come over unless the house was immaculate and presentable."

Imprecation- A curse

"Because he was a bad athlete, the school's soccer team was under an imprecation, and couldn't win."

Ineluctable- Incapable of being evaded

"Whenever he went in public, he was ineluctable of seeing friends and people he knew."

Mercurial- Animated, lively

"No one understood why he was so Mercurial even in the earliest of mornings."

Palliate- To relieve without curing

"Jim palliated Bob's sadness by telling him funny jokes."

Protocol- A first version, or rough draft

"The iPhone was only the protocol for the current age of smart phones."

Resplendent- Shining brilliant

"Danny was quite resplendent, and got a GPA of 4.6, and had straight A's."

Stigmatize- To set a mark or disgrace upon

"The murder the father committed stigmatized all of his family."

Sub Rosa- Secret or private

"The couple made their engagement sub rosa, and didn't announce it until 3 weeks later."

Vainglory- Excessive pride over one's achievement

"He was being very vainglory over his straight A's and bragged about it for 2 weeks."

Vestige- A mark or trace of something that is no longer present or in existence

"Fossils are a vestige of dinosaurs that roamed the earth many years ago."

Volition- A choice made by will

"She left home to move across the nation by her own volition."

Beowulf Essay

As my group mentioned in class when going over an idea for an essay topic for this essay (which we greatly appreciate having it become this essay), we think that Beowulf easily relates to the modern super hero, Iron Man (comparing to the first Iron Man movie released in 2008). My group and I think this because we believe that the two have similar traits, characteristics, and stories with them. So now such traits and similarities deserved to be viewed now.

First off, both stories start out with the same characterization for both characters. Both characters start out with a sort of cockiness, and slightly large egos as well. In Beowulf, Beowulf starts out the story with this trait because he thinks that he's good enough to go off and fight Grendel, also does so with no armor. In Iron Man, Tony Stark has a similar large ego because of the fact that he's rich, has great technology, and also the fact that he runs one of the biggest companies in the world. So right off the bat, we have a similarity with the two.

Next, both characters have a change in character as the story progresses. The two are good examples of a dynamic character. In this change, the characters have an event happen to them that causes them to go through a state of maturing. In Beowulf, Beowulf has that happen after the defeat of Grendel. When he kills Grendel, he begins to mature into more of a hero, so he becomes more courageous to fight other creatures and save people. In Iron Man, when Tony Stark is kidnapped by The Ten Rings, his whole experience of being kidnapped and escaping was quite changing for him. On his return home, it made him realize that he has all this power, and becomes a more mature man, and become more serious in himself, and his company. He becomes less cocky, and also loses some of his party mentality as well. This proves both characters are good dynamic characters.

Last, both stories have a similar story/plot ending. Both stories end with a battle of some sort over protecting someone or something. In Beowulf, Beowulf (which is now the grandson of the original Beowulf) has to go and defeat a dragon and protect all the Danes from danger. In Iron Man, Tony Stark has to defeat Obadiah Stane, and his Iron Man suit copy, because Tony needs to be sure that Obadiah doesn't become head of the Stark company. Both Beowulf and Stark claim victory over the antagonist they fight, even though Beowulf becomes weak and dies as well.

And to wrap it up, those are 3 examples on how the story of Beowulf and Iron Man relate to each other. Together, the both have common character traits, both are good examples of dynamic characters, and how they both have similar plots. So, perhaps my group was right, Iron Man was a pretty good example for this essay.

WILL STUDY FOR FOOD

Taking a quick scroll through a list of scholarships and reading through a few of them, all I can say is that it's really overwhelming to look through all of them. So many of them with good causes and amounts of money, it can be very hard to choose from so many of them. But for any scholarship that I am rewarded, I will probably mainly put it toward tuition and housing. In my opinion, these are the most costly out of the expenses for colleges, and with how our economy is right now, it's gonna be quite hard to pay it out of pocket. I think some money from scholarships will also go to books as well, since textbooks are also really expensive, which a lot of people know as a true statement. I feel as though the other costs like food and drink will be a lot easier to come by.

Vocab #3

1.Apostate: One who forsakes their religion or party

"When he turned 18, he became an apostate and completely spoke out about how bad his religion is."

2. Effusive: Demonstrative of emotion

"Her crying outburst today was quite effusive."

3. Impasse: A position of no escape

"He knew that his gathering with his in-laws was going to be impasse."

4. Euphoria: A feeling of happiness or confidence

"She was filled with euphoria when she was going up to accept her award."

5. Lugubrious: Mournful or gloomy

"He was feeling very lugubrious after the passing of his father."

6. Bravado: A swaggering display of courage

"He committed such a bravado when he saved the children from a burning building."

7. Consensus: Majority of opinion

"There was a consensus within the group that they would order sausage and onion for their pizza."

8. Dichotomy: Division of two parts

"The nearby ground went through a dichotomy and split in two."

9. Constrict: To compress or shrink

"He compressed the clay by squeezing it in his hands."

10. Gothic: Not pertaining to style of architecture

"The building was quite gothic when compared to the other buildings."

11. Punctilio: A fine point or detail in ceremony or procedure

"He had to be sure he did such exact punctilio during the yearly ceremony since it was such tradition for years."

12. Metamorphosis: A change in form or structure

"After construction, the building went through a full metamorphosis and looked completely new."

13. Raconteur: A person skilled in relating stories

"He was a raconteur for comparing the two stories themes together."

14. Sine Qua Non: An indispensable condition, element, or factor

"His appearance at every party was such a sine qua non."

15. Quixotic: Something visionary and unrealistic

"His dream of taking a trip to Hawaii was quite quixotic due to the economy."

16. Vendetta: A private feud in a family

"There had been a long vendetta in the family due to a small simple insult toward their mother."

17. Non Sequitur: An illogical statement having nothing to do with the conversatioin

"He was talking about his day at work, but randomly switched over to taking about cars, which was quite non sequitur."

18. Mystique: An idea based on an object or person

"Darwin's theory is a good example of a mystique."

19. Quagmire: A difficult situation

"Whether or not to go drive his car with low gas was quite a quagmire."

20. Parlous: Dangerous

"It's very parlous to ride a bike with no helmet."

WHY THIS BOOK?

There are a couple reasons why I decided to choose "Yes Man" by Danny Wallace. One small reason was because the movie, that I'll be honest about. But the main reason is because I find the concept kind of interesting. Saying "yes" to more things in life might seem kind of simple, but when you think about it, it could expand to more opportunities in life. It could open our horizons and help us discover new ideas, interests, and whatnot. It could even change our life if it goes far enough. I hope that  after reading this, it will have great impact and influence on me, and hopefully others that read it will feel the same too.