Nightmare

The other night, I had the worst dream of my life...I woke up at 8am [early for me] crying, and thinking of the horrible thought still stuck in my mind.

The beginning is vague, there was a small man, he looked kind of like the Leprechaun [sorry, no pic, don't want to uglify my blog lol] this man was very evil. A family took him in for some reason and I think he started to feel bad about his ways. So to repent he decided to make a better version of him, but since he was evil he made it out of corpses, like Frankenstein. This "creation" was meant to have a good heart but something went wrong and he was fifty times worse than his creator, and by doing sick and twisted things he honestly thought were good.
One day the creation did something horrible to the son of the family, and the boy was going to die. For some reason the boy was erected onto a tall wooden structure with his mother and others below crying for him.
I was watching this all in my dream exactly like a movie, as the "screen" panned up, I saw the land begin to flood with water and I thought the boy was going to have a nerve treatment to die quickly but as I came closer he was alive and in horrible pain, he lay there with six foot blades tied to his wrists, and I kept panning up.
That was the picture that stuck in my mind.

I just thought I would share this...my mom has done a lot of discerning but I was wondering what you all thought.

What I Wore 6.19.09

This shizz got highlighted on Weardrobes blog! Yay!

I made the shirt an off-the-shoulder myself...used to be my brothers little league shirt.

I love this headband! Soooo much!

Critical Thinking 8

I would like to train exotic animals for my career. I know it sounds crazy and far fetched but I cannot think of anything else that I would want to do. The fundamental concept around this is caring for the animal and creating a relationship with it. I tried looking at the world through the eyes of an animal lover, but then I realized that I already am and I look at the world like that everyday. For example, today as I was going to school, on my road I hit a bird and there was nothing I could do about it. I was almost in tears. Throughout the rest of the day I was very attentive to all the birds around me.

Pre-Reading 5

I believe people are pretty heavily influenced by advertising. Actually it bothers me slightly when people say that they aren't. Even a person who doesn't watch TV or listen to the radio, the reason they go and buy something at any store is because of an advertisement. I don't think that an item isn't worth anything just because its being advertised. People conform...but I don't think that's as horrible as everyone makes it out to be, its OK to be like other people. And besides people who are nonconformist are technically conforming to that stereotype, so in essence there's no way of getting out of conforming and that's not a horrible thing.
I think I'm pretty influenced by advertising. When I watch a television commercial for food, I usually really want that food. And if I see an ad for one store over another I will probably go there. I don't understand why people see this as a bad thing though. I am the perfect consuming teenager that society wants me to be, and I find this slightly comical but I don't know why.

Critical Thinking 7

I would describe my style as fun-loving and casual. I like to identify myself with that. I would like to think that I my life is quite like that as well. This pertains to my fashion sense, my taste in music, and possibly even my career choice [maybe].
My career choice is clear but in a way vague as well; I am 100% sure that I want to work with animals. I am not sure that I will be able to train tigers for movies like I dream about every night though. But I am sure that I will be working with animals in some way or another in the future.
Animals have been here forever, longer than us to be exact. But humans did not start domesticating animals for a while. As for training animals to do spectacular things, I believe that is just as recent as when the circus came to America in 1793.

Critical Thinking 6

When the news airs each night, right before a commercial, they say something like, "And coming up next, its in dinner every night, what could be killing your children." Stuff like this is really unnecessary, it creates fear. A way to get a more accurate picture of issues such as this could be the Internet, if you went straight to the source, or you could ask a trusted intelligent friend. The media usually has good information, but they normally twist it to the way that they want you to hear it. One must take in the media with a grain of salt.

Pre-reading 4

There has never been any crime in the neighborhoods that i have lived in. I get my sources of information from my parents and the news. I have never been the victim of a crime and i hope i never will be. I think crime is the most evident in low income areas, because people with low income usually don't go to school, are not educated, and have nothing better to do. It really is too bad. My parents have avoided those kinds of places to live, and it looks like it has payed off because i have never been the victim of a crime.

Critical Thinking 5

The media gives a lot of things a false sense of what they truly are. One of these i have found to be teen magazines. They make teens seem like they are always happy, on the move and rich enough to buy all the expensive items featured in the magazine. I am not saying this because i don't like these magazines actually Seventeen is my favorite magazine and i cherish receiving it once a month. But i have just found these few things to be quite annoying. They will showcase a spring look, but they make it seem like the only way you can achieve that look is by buying all the makeup and clothes they show. Teens generally do not have enough money to buy all these expensive clothes.

Pre-Reading 3

Tv has not played an important part in my life; especially when I was younger. My family was Waldorf [look it up] so the television was not on very much at all. I was forbidden to watch the TV so I relished it at friends houses. As I grew older, the TV laws become looser. My dad got cable and now I have to watch my certain television shows. When I was younger the only TV I watched was when I was home alone on days that i was sick. We only got PBS so I got addicted to shows like "Clifford" and "Between the Lions" I never watched "Spongebob" or "Blues Clues" like most of my friends. Televsion did not make a big impact on my young education either, because Waldorf did not have any televsions [and I'm glad about that]. I dont think TV is an important part of education, I just think it was a thing that teachers use when they are tired, and a thing that students think is fun.

Critical Thinking 4

The main hallmarks of critical reading are really understanding what you are reading. Not just skimming and getting the gist of it, I mean understanding what the writer is trying to get across. When you just read a text, you are doing just that, reading it; when you are reading it critically, that's when you can really understand it. I would say the difference between regular listening and critical listening is the same as the reading. Really understanding it. A person can listen critically and have any opinion, just because you are listening critically doesn't mean you have to agree with what is being said.

Critical Thinking 3

1. How can I deal with my friend who regularly says she cannot hang out but when its my turn to deny her, she acts like its a huge deal? As if my life were much less as important as hers.

2. How can I best deal with the situation of my parents [Mother] not accepting the most important person in my life? A person who will be in my life for many years to come, and he has proven himself time and time again, therefore she has absolutely no reason to not accept him.

Critical Thinking 2

I am currently reading "New Moon" the second book from the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. The main character, Bella has just recently been faced with a problem of sorts. Her vampire lover, Edward has left her without a word and for no reason. Her life is now crushed. Bella had promised Edward that she would not do anything stupid or reckless. For many months after his disappearance, she numbs herself. Now, after five months she realizes that Edward hasn't kept any promises to her so why should she keep this empty promise to him? This is the problem she is faced with. Bella, not being perfectly rational but acting upon emotion decided to do the most reckless thing she can do; buy a motorcycle. Even though she knows nothing about them or even how to ride them. What Bella is kind of trying to do here is do everything Edward doesn't want her to do. Why should she not? He left her heartlessly. So here is a perfect example of a character faced with a problem and not exactly dealing with it perfectly, but dealing with it humanly.

Pre-Reading 2

Over the last few days I have seen a lot of weight loss ads on sites such as Myspace [which I frequently visit] I noticed that the advertising companies are taking a different standpoint than usual. The ads show girls that could be anywhere, in this class, you best friend, whoever. Just a regular plain Jane who lost a bunch of weight. There are "before" and "after" pictures but the "after" pictures are not perfect like a model, there are still imperfections. I think what the advertisers are trying to do is market to the skeptics, the ones who scoff at the perfect stomachs of the models they show for most of the weight loss ads.

Critical Thinking 1

Critical thinking to me is looking at a situation and really putting your mind to it. Throwing out all other people's opinion and just looking at your own self and what you think. I guess I would say I think critically when I need to figure something complicated out. I definitely thought critically when I had to figure out all my stuff for school. This is my first semester in college and it is a lot on my plate, so I had to really stop and think. Usually when I am not thinking critically is when I am trying to lie or something, because I am not too good at it. I don't pause, I just babble and dig my own grave in a sense. But I dont lie all that much, so dont worry...

Pre-Reading 1

I love being social, but my conduct varies in each social situation I am in. For example, when I am with my family I am a little more quiet and composed than when I am with my friends. I get very shy when I am with strangers. I like to be the center of conversation and attention at all times. Sometimes I find myself, half interrupting someone and relaying a similar anecdote from my life, because sometimes I find it more interesting. I know this sounds stuck up but, I swear to you, I am not stuck up. I prefer a small conversation as opposed to a big one, because then everyone can have more of a chance to speak their mind. I have a small group of very close friend that are almost like family. Even though we get in fights, we know that we are eachother rock. My group really works because it consists of two couples. My boyfriend and his best friend, Ryan have been friends since third grade, and when Ryan started dating his girlfriend, Marianne about a year ago, we just clicked. Now Marianne and I are best friends and the boys are best friends and its quite the exciting dynamics, really. =]]

First one!

Well, you can probably already tell that my name is Andrea. My full name is Andrea Marie Christine Novotny. I'm pretty happy to be finally taking courses at Sierra because i decided to take a break after high school and work last semester, I really didn't like it though. I have a close group of friends, I have never really been the one for large groups. My boyfriend is Jason Howell, who is actually in this class. We have been dating since our junior year of high school, hes a really great guy and super funny. I'm shy at first when I'm not in my comfort zone but when I get in that comfort zone I have been known for being extremely silly or not shutting up. I want to go to San Diego State or UC San Diego, there I want to get my Bachelors in Animal Science. The career path that I would most want to take would be training exotic animals for the silver screen [animal celebrities!] I just adore tigers. Some other things I like are fashion and swimming. That's pretty much all for now. Ta ta!