A Fresh Start? For our Grades...

Well done with finals for first semester and now back to regular old blogging. No more studying for each subject to get ready for(if you even study) or even for some people stress, and Ace the test hopefully... Now just back to our regular old routine and wait to see whats our result on the test. Yay...

Having a minimum week during the testing was great, because we get to go out earlier and do more stuff (studying, hanging out with friends, etc.). But during the testing it wasn't all that great since it rained mostly for that whole entire week. Not much to do when were getting poured down on hard with water and hail, also thunder/lightning striking down on us during that one day. Hate getting my socks wet when I walk around outside. Its annoying and a hassle walking with cold wet feet every time you take a step down the street. Plus you might even get sick from the rain and have to stay home trying to get better. Rain is nice every now and then since we need it, but having it all the time 24/7 is pretty troublesome. There is going to be floods all over the place, leaks in your house that you have to clean up, not much activity you to can do outside, traffics in the street, and etc. With all those problems with rain, there are also good outcome having rain. When it rains, it will help the environment like the plants giving water to help it grow, and also help our shortage of water that were having in Alameda (That I think its still going on or not?).

I'm pretty surprise that I did okay on my finals, I thought I was going to fail most of the subjects, but I didn't. There was only one final that I failed, but overall my semester grade for that class is passing so it's all good. Well were done with first semester, and onward to second semester with a fresh new start that has all new grades which are all A's!!!(For now... T.T) School year is going pretty fast and it's almost February, just can't wait for the second semester finals haha got to study this time...

Finals

2. Choose one of your posts. (Your favorite? Your least favorite? The one that surprises you the most when you reread it? Any one you want to pick.) Analyze it in detail, with quotes etc.
Out of all the blogs that I published, my favorite blog is not just one but several. The Australian section is my favorite portion of the blogs. Typing all those blogs about my trip to Australia was fun and refreshing. It made me remember all the good times I have done there and all the exciting things I experienced over there that I couldn't do in California. I had a great time in Australia meeting my relatives that I haven't seen for like a decade and for the first time meeting my cousins there too. I got along with them very easily and bonded with them during my stay. They were all very nice and welcoming which brightened up the atmosphere when we arrived in Australia. Staying over there was a blast and something new because this was my first time getting out of the United States. I learned new things (history of Australia), saw beautiful animals (koala, kangaroo, etc.), magnificent tour sites (Kiama Blowhorn, Three Sisters, etc.), and meeting my relatives as if it was the first time.
My least favorite blog is "Classes" because I had to rush and it was a last minute blog post. I had a hard time and was trying to think of something to type, and when you have nothing to type about, why not just talk about your schedule since it was pretty early in the school year. During that time, typing blogs was long and boring to me. I was just trying to get it done and over with my homework. And when it was complete, I felt relieved that I finally finished.
The one blog that surprised me the most when I reread it was the Dim Sum blog, because I never thought I would talk about it in my blog. It was something new that someone could learn and not something about my life. I like how I described what it meant and there’s a small description on what it’s about down below.
"Back in the old days, Dim Sum (touch the heart) was originally not supposed to be a main meal, only meant for snacks, thus only touching the heart. Now it has evolved serving a wide variety of light dishes (dumplings, congee, rice noodle rolls, etc.) alongside with Chinese tea (bolay, oolong, and ect.)."
I like this line the most, because it's a short and simple description. I don't really know why I started typing the Dim Sum blog; it just came in my head and so why not just write about it. This is also my favorite blog right after Australia because whenever I reread this, it always surprises me that I wrote about this kind of blog.

5. If you used any quick writes as blog posts, how did they change from what you wrote by hand in class to what you published on your blog? In other words, how did you go from rough draft to final draft? Explain your revision/rewriting process.
Whenever I write a quick write and published it on my blog, it's always the rough draft to final draft. The quick write is a rough draft where I put in my ideas and thoughts about it on the paper. I mostly check all the basic stuff like grammar, redundancy, and etc. on my rough draft. Sometimes my paper is full of ideas about that specific quick write, saying what my opinions about it and why. When I feel like putting it on my blog, I reread and edit it to the final draft. I analyze my rough draft by crossing out anything that doesn't make sense or not significant with the quick write, and put in the important facts onto the computer. I then rewrite the ideas into summaries of that quick write and adding a bit more information to the final draft. I make sure that I'm staying on topic with the quick write and following on what it's trying to say.
Making quick writes into blogs are much easier and faster, because you already have a rough draft to begin with. You don't have think up of something off your head while you’re doing your blog, and instead have something you can work with that you already started. This gives you an advantage when your already one step done and have something to write about if your comfortable with that quick write. I like writing quick writes occasionally with pictures on trying to find out what they mean. It's much more fun and mysterious, because you’re trying to find out what that picture is trying to say or mean. It's very easy once you write about something you like and can connect easily with it so you won't get stuck. For example, there is one quick write that I typed onto my blog (http://ninjanathant.blogspot.com/2009/12/picture-hmm.html), it was easy, fast, and I didn't had any trouble getting stuck on it. It was easy for me to connect with it, because it gave out lots of opportunity or clues to talk about the picture.

8. How do you like having a blog? How has blogging changed the way you write, the way you think, or the way you think about writing?
Having a blog is pretty useful and it’s also something new since we’re using this for our English class which is bizarre, but good at the same time. The reason why I said it was good, because we’re involving modern technology into our lifestyle of working in school. I never thought that we would use computers so commonly on the internet to do school work other then just projects and reports. It looks like the times of technology are evolving more into our school and the old ways slowly fading away. For example, I heard one of my teacher talking to us about a device called "Kindle 2" where it stores a lot of books in just one device. My teacher said that a school has ordered the Kindle 2 for students, and replacing the normal books with it. It's pretty amazing and astonishing that worldwide were letting technology more into our school little by little. Blogging is one of it which proved to be very helpful, because this way it's much faster when you share with other individual's work to get ideas from.
Blogging changed my way of writing, because it's much faster then having to write on a piece of paper. This way by writing, more people around the world can just look at your post by reading and leaving comments. It's more efficient and easier by publishing it online where anyone can read it. When I type on my blogger and don't know what to write about, I can just look at other blogs to get ideas from. Blogging didn't changed my way of thinking about writing other then typing fast and sharing with other people more easily. It just made my life easier in doing my work in English, and reading things that seem to be interesting for me. To sum this up, having a blog is pretty cool and helpful in my life. Blogging is much easier to share with your friends and letting the whole world know about it.

QuickWrite: Writing Groups

1. What are some things you'd like to get out of writing more collaboratively with peers?
I hope that by doing this method of working together with peers will help me on my writing style. They will give me tips on how to write better and help fix your work. Also help you stay on focus, because I tend to write different things and don't stay on the right subject.

2.What are some things you'd be willing to contribute to a writing group?
Well I'm not really good at spell checking and grammar, so I wouldn't be much helpful in that part. But I do give tips/comments that will help the person, and I'm not one of those people who are lazy and don't care. I don't slack off and actually do things that will contribute to others.

3. Is it more important to you to work with friends, or with people who are writing the same types of things you are? (Of course, it's possible to have this both ways...) Explain why.
It would be great to work with friends which you can communicate easily, but you tend to slack off or not stay on the right subject. The wise choice would be with people who are writing the same types of things with you, because this way you stay on focus and they might actually understand what you are trying to say. They will give ideas or comments that will be helpful since both of you have a common thing to write.

4. What are some "rules" (or at least guidelines) you'd like to see in a writing group?
Well a good guidelines I would like to see is don't slack off or not pay attention to the other person. Be supportive and actually help people with good comments/ideas.

Back to School

So it has been exactly two weeks ago that I last wrote a blog. Relaxing, eating, and sleeping no worries of getting any homework in those past two weeks other then the homework given before (-_-). Now those times are over and back to school to do all kinds of work and homework that they send at us, great... The good news is that you get see your friends more often, but you might have already done that during the past two weeks... Well you will go and see your favorite class or teacher again if you even have one, but that's about it that I can think of to be back in school. English is the only class that I enjoy being in, because it's fun and I learn interesting things in there like Ted Friday that we always watch every week.
Well might as well write about the past two weeks that I have been doing over the winter break so far. Mostly all those days I have been spending was with my family and little on my friends. I went to my relative's house to have a Christmas party meeting my cousins mostly, who I didn't see for a long time. It was pretty fun and their were lots of food at there house especially the desserts yummy. They were very delicious that my cousin made, some of the desserts were gingerbread and oreo cheesecake. I had a great time and met other people from my cousin's side.
For happy new years, I mostly did nothing on that day and just watch the countdown on the TV for like ten minutes. Well I don't really celebrate it, but just enjoy the fireworks they put out. The reason why my family don't celebrate this day because our happy new years is next month. I celebrate the chinese new year instead and will do something similar to the first new year with fireworks.