~Fin~

Well, I never imagined that I would update a blog in place of a standard composition notebook for a journal. It was interesting to see the advantages and disadvantages of posting journal entries on the internet, where anyone can access them with ease.
I find it strange that I wrote about certain topics on a blog, where everyone can seem them, whereas in High School, I had a hard time discussing certain matters even within the privacy of a notebook. Perhaps it's a sign that I've matured. Who knows, maybe I'll come back to The Magical Incident someday, and post MAGICAL literary works of mine here...but I should probably review them thoroughly before I go so far as to put them out in the open.

True (beautiful and ugly) colors

Though I had known my classmates all too well once our high school graduation arrived (some of whom I had known for 13 years!!!!), I really began to wonder if I would miss them all, even those who annoyed me in the past. We had all seen each other grow up together, so perhaps in our final days together, they would reveal another final part to themselves I never knew.
For some, this was a true statement. Even though we had grown tired of each other, we began to express our setiments of missing one another. However, there was a RATHER vocal minority that reminded everyone how impatient and snarky they had become, which began to diminish the gravity of our graduation during practice. I wish I could say that we all showed our true colors, but it seemed as if some of us never change.

Cat litter ads that make people laugh

A series of ads popped up in the 2000s that featured cats holding their hands between the legs, a universal sign for "gotta pee." Though the image editing may not be difficult with the technology available today, the idea is still humorous, which is why Fresh Step continued to produce these ads

Post-Presentation

As much as I wish I could feel better about public speaking after the oral presentations, I believe I will have to prepare several more presentations before my confidence will increase. I did have to speak publicly in high school, but the presentations were mostly for classmates or people I at least knew; speaking in front of strangers is a challenge I have yet to face, and probably WILL face in college.
The presentations I enjoyed the most usually had a twist of some sort that was unexpected. With that in mind, Eddie's presentation had the most unexpected turns, which meant it was probably my favorite. I can't really say the others were poor, but Eddie's had a different take on the concept of a tipping point. Instead of comparing a popular character to a lesser known character, he compared psychological methods of thinking, which earns him points for creativity. Even so, everyone really brought interesting comparisons to the table that were well analyzed and explained.

Public Speaking and the New Stage Fright

     Though I believed that I put my presentation together well, I often feel the need to rely on the visual content rather instead of speaking myself.  One of my biggest public speaking fears is that my voice will grow monotone as I speak.  Unless the subject I speak about is one that interests me, and therefore I can speak more passionately about it, I will occasionally slip into a monotone voice.  The reason behind the slip may be because I just want to present the material as best as I can, so using more infliction as I speak tends to be a part of the presentation I place on the back burner.  To get over this fear, I suppose I should look harder to see if the material I'm studying can link to something for which I feel passionate; maybe then I can speak a tad more naturally.

     Another fear, which I think is a more common fear students have, is to not get tongue-tied when speaking.  The only effective method for overcoming this problem is to practice reading over the material, or if remembering it word for word is no good, solidify the basic concepts in your mind.  As long as a student understands the material well enough to tell it like a basic story, it's better than being unable to speak smoothly at all.    

Seen and Unseen

If Barnes and Noble and Borders could rearrange their books in a fashion that would potentially net more profits, they could rearrange books by popularity.  Books, plays, and series that have garnered mass popularity, both old and new, would be located in the "Infamous" section.  Any material that was popular at the time of its release but did not leave an overwhelming impact could be found in the "Known, but not classics" department of the store.  Literature that should in the "Infamous" section, but did not achieve such status for whatever reason, would sit on the shelves on the "Under-appreciated" section.  The final section, which would be reserved for books that were utter flops, would be titled "Unloved."  With this method, the more popular sections would require mass shipments and make much money while the less popular sections collect dust.   

Critiquing The Tipping Point

     The Tipping Point, while an incredibly interesting and informative book, is not without its strengths and weaknesses.  Every time it introduced a new concept, The Tipping Point would use an example of the concept and then produce to describe the concept in detail.  However, the novel would occasionally throw example after example at the readers, overusing the idea with which the book would introduce the concept.  There were even times where the examples the novel described were confusing, such as the experiment in which subjects nodded their heads while listening to recordings.  

     A few of the ideas began to also sound repetitive after a while as well.  For instance, concepts introduced in later chapters could easily link back to early concepts, such as the law of the few.  I understand the book was more research oriented, and thus required more examples and concepts to seem "complete."  However, perhaps the book may have been better off if slightly more condensed.