Gaming...

     Over the course of the past few weeks, Lacy has got us on this "gaming" fix if you will.  We read about video games and how they particularly apply to certain things, and for me it's been quite interesting.  Growing up, of course I have played my fair share of video games.  I remember one of my favorite games when I was little was Mario Cart on the Super Nintendo.  That was my game!  Man, nobody could ever beat me at it; I was TOO good.  The Super Nintendo was a huge part of my childhood, period.  I also remember when Sony came out with the Playstation 1.  Man, I was too excited!  I think my two favorite games were Crash Bandicoot  and Metal Gear Solid.  They died out kinda quickly, but it's okay because then the Playstation 2 came out.  I think everybody was shocked when some of the first 3D games came out.  Grand Theft Auto 3 had to have been my favorite.  Then when the Playstation 3 came out, I was kind of grown out of games and didn't really play them anymore.  Besides, the system was too expensive anyway.  But after I saw some Call of Duty videos, haha, I needed to get a PS3.  Me and my brother got one a few years for Christmas.  I gotta tell you, I turned into a gaming nerd again after that.  Me and Call of Duty became best friends, and I destroyed kids on there.  After a little while that died out though....and I haven't really played video games since I got to college.

    However, on the first day of English 1102, Lacy made us play string games.  I wondered, why are we playing string games?  How could this apply the writing, or even English class for that matter?  But the connection is very clear now.  I see why we started playing string games, as it only led to more.  Most recently, Lacy asked us to think of a game to bring to class that would apply to our reading's of James P Gee and our classroom activities.  I thought of some computer games I had played in the past, and instantly chose World's Hardest Game.  I thought to myself, "What would apply to risk taking, exploring, and trial and error?"  I thought of World's Hardest Game because you have to take risks to get through the levels (not to mention they are extremely hard).  You also have to go through a lot or trial and error in order to succeed.  You have to die many times before you figure out how to get through each level.  So far, I like English class and I'm excited to see what else is in store for us!

Creating my daybook...

     At the beginning of the semester, I wondered what this class would be about.  I walked in on the first day not knowing anybody, and scared of what to think of the class.  After seeing the syllabus, I realized it was going to be a lot of work and I was worried because of the fact that all my other classes are major classes.  So far the workload is difficult, but I'm trying to manage.  I also had an extremely easy English 1101 class.  All we had to do what write 3 major papers and do some journal entries and that was it for the semester.  On the first day of class, Lacy told us we had to purchase a composition book in order to use for a "daybook" for daily writing.  I went to Walmart that day and bought the last composition notebook they had (luckily they had one).

     Anyway, continuing on with my story, I got back to my dorm room and planned out how I wanted my daybook to look, and I also chose to do it before class so that I could spend as much time on it that I wanted to.  I decided I wanted a picture of my family, some pictures of my amazing and beautiful girlfriend, and some other emblems and logos that I thought best represented me.  So I began by printing out all the pictures and cutting out the right size black construction paper to fit on the front of the book.  Then, I pasted all the pictures where I wanted and pasted the construction paper to the front of my daybook.

     Now it was time for the back of the daybook.  I didn't have anymore full sheets of construction paper, just scraps.  So I came up with a way to cut construction paper scraps in squares and paste it to a sheet to make a collage of colors.  Then I put the pictures on and pasted it to the back of the book.  I then labeled my daybook to make it unique and put packing tape over top to seal it.  This was the hardest part by far.

     Finally!  I was done with my daybook.  It was unique and fit my personality perfectly!  It took a lot of effort and a few hours, but I was very happy with the product.  Throughout the semester, I will get to use this book to paste items that matter to me and items that I do in class into this book.  I will also be able to put my string in my book for easy access so I can play string games and finally, I will put my "writing into the day's" into this book.  I am excited to see how the semester will play out and how I will be able to use my newly created daybook.  The end :)