Vocabulary #1 Performance Review

I got 4 out of ten, which, is 40% of the quiz correct. An F. I received an F based on my knowledge of the vocabulary, and my ability to recall information previously learned. I studied the vocabulary, but memorization of words is not my strong suit. I know words because I hear them and then I use them. I have no reason to use these words. I'm not expanding my vocabulary if I don't use the words. I don't use the words because we invented shorter, more often used words. As much as I'd like to gain more experience with them, I have nothing to go off of.

In the end, it doesn't matter how useful the words are, how big they are, how little we understand them, or what we want to get out of them, it only matters that we can memorize them and define them in school.

Vocabulary #1: Spring

adumbrate - verb give to understand; describe roughly or briefly or give the main points or summary of


apotheosis - noun the elevation of a person (as to the status of a god); model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal



ascetic - adj. practicing great self-denial; pertaining to or characteristic of an ascetic or the practice of rigorous self-discipline; noun someone who practices self denial as a spiritual discipline



bauble - noun a mock scepter carried by a court jester; cheap showy jewelry or ornament on clothing



beguile - verb attract; cause to be enamored; influence by slyness



burgeon - verb grow and flourish



complement - noun something added to complete or make perfect; either of two parts that mutually complete each other



contumacious - adj. wilfully obstinate; stubbornly disobedient



curmudgeon - noun a crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas



didactic - adj. instructive (especially excessively)

Hacking my Education

What do you want?
- To get the most out of my education. To do what's necessary to learn and retain important information for the future.

What can you get?
-A better education, for you and everyone. It isn't limited to the classroom, or where you think it is. Hack your education, not just what you do for 50 minutes.

Get better. Demonstrate it. Show others what you learned or accomplished.

Have a learning network.
-Peers
-Public
-Expert(s)

Do what you want, get where you want to go.

The Choice

1. What is the "choice" referred to in the title?
- The choice whether to give their daughter a cancer fighting medicine that tastes very bad and causes damage to all new cells being created.

2. Is it a real choice?  Why/why not?  What is the alternative?
- Not really. This is one of the best options for fighting the cancer. The alternative could be less effective medicine or no medicine, but they feel it may be too strong or not strong enough.

3. Why does the author use the word poison in the first line?
- To bring power to the substance, to invoke feelings of danger.

4. The author's daughter wants to play with a toy that is intended for older kids.  Why?  Do you agree with her?  
- The girl doesn't believe that she will live to be 8 years old, old enough to pay with the toy. It depends on how the treatment is going, whether it works or not.

5. If you thought you might not live to the age of 30 what would you want to do right now?
- There's a lot of things I'd want to do. Experience more life at an earlier age could be important.

6. Under what circumstances does it make sense to endure discomfort--or even force it on a loved one-- in service to a greater/more important cause?
- If in order to sustain life, you must endure pain, so long as the benefit out-ways the pain, it can be done.

7. Is suffering a necessary condition of life and love?
- That depends on the degree, the amount, and the reasoning. It shouldn't be required, but often, it is a side-effect of these.

8. Most readers don't share the author's circumstances, but we feel an emotional response to his words.  Why?

- They can imagine themselves in the position. Empathy can alter emotions, placing others in a feeling they have not experienced. They may not feel the pain, but they attempt to emulate it.

My First MLA Research Paper

Racism: Racial Profiling In America Today by Dale Bebeau

Life After This Blog Post

I've sent an email to myself, to be delivered in the future. Weird, I know. Maybe I'll teach myself something, maybe I'll think it was dumb to say. In a few years, I'll hopefully look back and be proud of the progress I made and the success that came with it. Nobody will get it done besides myself, so I've got to get to it.

Paper Cut

Writing this paper hasn't been easy. I ultimately wrote what I was proud of and will display it as such. Although, it did feel like an assignment. No matter the topic, I still felt like it was just another paper. However, it taught me that papers can be much longer than I expected. I eventually finished and I like what I have. I don't always know how to write what I feel in a complete way, but I think I communicated well. In the end, many people will see this, and I'm not afraid.