Explanatory Synthesis Notes

What I would like to explain in my essay is the history of the universe starting at the big bang, all the way up to society today. The universe is over 13.8 billion years old and not a lot of people know exactly how we got to where we are now. What is commonly known is that there is a big bang, we have stars and planets and solar systems and galaxies and so much more. We know what is out there, but why are those things there? How did those things get there? All of this makes sense when it comes to science. If we look at the timeline of time itself, we will be able to explain exactly how those stars formed, how the other planets formed. And how life formed on earth, then ending with how life evolved and brought us to the society we live in today. 

One of my sources is a video on the big bang, which is the beginning of time itself and will also be how I start my paper off. The video tells us what is already known about the big bang, which is not much because scientists do not know what existed before the big bang; or even if anything existed. It takes us on the journey of what happened seconds after the big bang. Everything that exists today was created in a matter of seconds and created the universe. At first the universe was really hot, and full of just matter and energy, but once it cooled down, it opened up a door for new things to evolve. 

Another source I have is an info graphic timeline from the moment time was created up until where we are now. This timeline includes pictures and explanations of what happened at what time and even gives an accurate sense of how much time was in between events. Visuals are very helping in the understanding of how things work or came to be and will allow me to see exactly what happened at what time and give a sense for how old the universe really is. Most people don't understand how big and how old the universe really is. We all understand it is old but the amount of time that went by between the beginning and now is kind of insane.  

What is Minecraft?

What is Minecraft? Minecraft is a fairly popular computer game, a lot of people have heard of it, but they do not know what it is to its full extent. Minecraft is an internet game where you are put in a world of blocks. Everything is made up of blocks. These blocks resemble the real world. As in, you have grass blocks, dirt blocks, stone blocks, coal blocks, and hundreds of other blocks that you can use inside the game. When you begin, you start out with nothing. You must then go and collect resources by mining different blocks. So for example, if you mine a wood block, you will get a piece of wood. You then can craft that wood to make tools and build things. This game is about creativity, you can build and do whatever you want in this world. Earlier I have mentioned that the worlds resemble the real world we live in; but there is also a fantasy aspect to this game as well. There are mobs that you have to fight and you can also gain resources by killing them. Certain creatures drop certain things and you can use those things to your advantage. You can make this game anything you want it to. It is fun because you can play with your friends or you can play with others online, you can get together and build or you can play mini games that are available. This is an endless game, so it can occupy someone for hours. The things you can do are endless. The more creative you are, the more fun this game becomes. This game also takes some knowledge to play. To craft certain things and access certain things, you need to know the materials you need, how to obtain them, and then the pattern you need to put them in the crafting table to be able to craft this object you desire. A crafting table is something you make out of 4 pieces of wood, and when you place it down, you can basically craft anything. When you click on it, you see a bunch of little boxes that you can place stuff in. You must place the correct materials in the correct pattern to the get exact object you desire. It might take some time to learn all this at first, but once you get the hang of it, the game becomes so fun. 

Let The Emotions Roll Out

One of my all time favorite bands is Avenged Sevenfold. Now, most of their music sounds pretty angry and I would consider them a hard rock/metal band. For me they are a great band to listen to when I am in a good mood, but also when I am in an angry or upset mood as well. Most of their songs include some type of screaming that I have no idea how they achieve. These screams are something that I cannot even explain. You would just have to listen to the song to understand what I am saying. Some people find this annoying and it is not music. But I find it full of emotion. Pure emotion that they are trying to let out. Obviously it fits the words they are singing and in my opinion it would not get the point across any other way. When they put those screams in there it gives the song a whole other set of emotions and brings a new mood to the song. You can really feel and understand how they feel about these topics they put into their songs. 

Something I find interesting is that the worse mood I am in, the more "screaming" I like to listen to. I have thought about this a lot lately and I have been wondering why this is the way it is. Sometimes when people are upset they do like to scream to just get all that anger and emotion out. And like I said earlier, the screams in the songs are something I will never be able to achieve and something I don't know how they do. So, listening to this music helps you scream with that kind of emotion when you just can't. Whether it is because you are out in public and can't scream, cause you can listen with headphones, or just because the emotion you want to get out can't be achieved unless you go to the Avenged Sevenfold extreme. This music almost drains you of all these angry emotions that you let build up. It gets it all out and you honestly feel better once you are done. Of course I enjoy many more things about there music but this is just an interesting spin on this type of music. 

The Dreaded Valentine's Day

Today is Valentines Day. And in my opinion, this is one of the most hated holidays. Lots of people have expressed their hate for this holiday. Whether it is because they are single and have no one to celebrate it with, but even people who do have a significant other still do not like this holiday. I personally love the holiday. I have spent this holiday single and with someone else. But I have always enjoyed it. People argue that you don't need a holiday to show love for someone and that is very true. You should show love for the people you care about every single day of the year. But, it also gives you the excuse and the chance to do something above and beyond. If you did something above and beyond for your significant other every single day 1. that would be hella expensive and you will likely be broke in no time. And 2. then those things automatically become less special because your significant other will be used to all of that stuff. In my opinion it means so much more when you get something special once a year than everyday. And coming from someone who has been in a long lasting relationship, you run out of ideas quickly. 

For the people who hare on Valentines day no matter what say that this holiday that has no point. But, it is something that is just fun and can be enjoyable for anyone that is wiling to celebrate it and not just hate on it. But of course you do not have to celebrate it. For lots of people it is just another normal day, and that is perfectly fine. Personally, I celebrate it whether I have someone or not. You don't have to have a significant other to celebrate it. You can celebrate it with family, friends or anyone you care about. And some people do not realize that. Everyone has love for at least one person out there, people care. And it is nice to show them that no matter what.  

Synthesis Essay Review

The overall experience I had with the synthesis essay was pretty good. It was a little interesting in the beginning due to the confusion I had because I have never written an essay like this before. But we looked at multiple examples in class that helped me understand exactly how this essay was supposed to work. The essay itself was a pretty fun to write. I personally like writing about personal experiences so I enjoyed that a lot. Even the connection I made to the outside was interesting because I made it have something to do with my career. The research was fun because it was something I truly believed in. The hardest part about this was writing the very first draft. But, that is also something I have struggled with in the past when it comes to writing. It takes me awhile to get my ideas out in a way that I think will make sense and sound like I know what I am doing. But, once that was all out and I was on the right page, the tweaking and revising of the essay was not a big deal at all. The peer reviews helped a lot and I found it helpful to use the questions in the book and read other classmate’s papers as well. It was very satisfying revising the essay. I felt like I was accomplishing things and getting better at writing. Which is something I did not feel at all about my writing in high school. I think I have learned a lot by writing and working on this essay and can’t wait to improve even more throughout the semester. Overall I think my essay turned out really well and I look forward to getting a grade back or maybe even getting some feedback.

Burritos For Dayz

My favorite food is a burrito. My mom won't let me live off of burritos. I don't know why, because I think burritos are perfect for every meal. My girlfriend does not like burritos. I don't know why we are even together because you can't date someone who doesn't like burritos. Just kidding. If she does not like burritos, then there will be more for me. So I will keep her around. My mom says I should of been born Mexican because I like burritos so much.

Ok but in all seriousness, burritos are my all time favorite food. I guess I am writing about this because I am hungry and that is what I am craving at the moment. Maybe sometime this week I will get one and update everyone on my life. It is kind of sad that I am writing this blog about a burrito. But I don't care because I love my burritos and I will always love my burritos. Burritos are pure happiness. Burritos are love, burritos are life.

My Religion is Football

I have been a religious follower of the NFL for years now. Ive always had my favorite team. But it wasn't until I got a little older that I started following every game and learned the rules and basically let it consume my life. I was actually torn between what to write this blog on. It originally was going to be a Super Bowl review but its actually turning out to be about my love for football. 

I was raised a Green Bay Packers fan so that is my team of choice. I will bleed green and yellow until I die. I guess you can say I am kind of a hardcore fan. But not only that, I am a hardcore fan of the NFL in general. During football season I follow that sport like it is my religion. I watch every single game, keep track of teams and players and of course join in on the fantasy action. Nothing beats sitting on the couch for 7 hours watching football on Sunday's. 

I have found a love for the game not only because it is fun to watch, but also because when you think about it, there is more to the games than men running around and colliding into each other. A good football team has a brain behind all of their plays. These plays have to be carefully thought out and specialized for each opponent. The teams with the best brains are the ones who are successful. Having a vast knowledge of the game allows ease when it comes to play calling and even how to pick guys during the draft every year. I one day hope that I will be smart enough to think beyond what we see on the TV between September and February. 

I am extremely sad that football season came to an end today. I will be waiting eagerly for the next season to start back up in September. 

Peer Edits Are Fun

This week of peer edits have been pretty productive in my opinion. I have done peer edits in the past in high school but I feel like no one took them seriously and my paper didn't get much better because of that. However, I really liked the way this class did peer edits. The file exchange thing was really efficient and allowed us to easily read someone else's paper and then leave comments. Using the questions from the text book also really helped me in the process of my revisions. It basically gave us guidelines of what we needed in the essay, and well, if you couldn't find what the book told you to, you were on the wrong page. But that allowed me to fix things early on. I feel good about this revisions that I made. I think I have a pretty strong paper and I am not stressing out about it like I have in the past with other papers. This gave me a checklist/checkpoints to reach to keep me on task and I really liked that. I enjoyed reading other people's papers as well. It gave us a feel for what they should look like and it helped me better understand the paper itself when I was grading someone else. Overall these peer reviews helped me tremendously while writing my paper. This was a great thing to do and would love to do this with every paper I write.