Effective planning while writing an essay can save people a lot of time, headaches, and frustration – especially when writing about a topic with vast amounts of information available. For myself, I sometimes find it difficult to follow my writing plans. Once I start writing I can sometimes lose track of my plan and start ranting about information in the order that it’s coming out in my brain, but the plan I have made definitely helps me to get started on the writing process, which for me is the hardest part of any writing assignment. Once I have finished writing I can simply compare my plan to my finished piece, making sure I have included everything. Planning out your writing can also help to make sure you include all of the information that you wanted to. Simply jotting down all the information you could find, and starting your essay before planning it out can lead to a disorganized piece, lacking information and explanations.

    Since we are allowed to write about anything we want, I will write about my vegetable garden. I don’t know if that’s relevant to the class, but since our course theme is power and choices, I would think almost anything would be relevant to that…

   Well, this is my favourite time of year because I am hard at work in my garden. It is a lot of hard work, time, and dedication, but the pay-off makes the hours well worth it! I grow so many different things I hardly ever go to the market for anything other than meat! I grow Lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, onions, beets, beans, cucumbers, radishes, potatoes, and the list goes on and on. I also have two apple trees, but those aren’t much upkeep other than picking up fallen apples off the ground before the wasps get at them.

   After a long day of listening to people bitch about stuff and pretending to care, nothing soothes me more than getting home to work in my garden. It’s nice to do it alone, and it’s also something that my boyfriend and I love to do together. We have equal appreciation for vegetable gardening. The hobby was passed down to us from his grandpa who was an avid vegetable gardener, and taught us everything we know about it. The taste and nourishment of home-grown garden salads and steamed veggies everyday make me feel strong, happy, and healthy!

   I hate flower gardening, I make minimal efforts towards that…  They attract bee’s and I can’t eat them, flowers suck.

Kari.

“When Violet eyes get brighter, and heavy wings grow lighter; I’ll taste the sky and feel alive again.” Owl City : Vanilla Twilight.

    When I listen to this portion of the song I connect with the emotions involved in getting through some sort of struggle, accepting the pain and being able to recognize that as time passes your emotional anguish will eventually relent and you can get back to enjoying the things that bring joy into your life.

    I am crazy about the way this song writer puts together words in a way that describes a feeling that I know I’ve felt before, but wouldn’t exactly know how to recognize it or find a way to translate it. This happens all the time when I listen albums by this artist and it was difficult to choose just one quote.

Kari.

The skills I have been practising with the minor assignments are definitely paying off as I work on this major assignment. Making a rough copy first is something I never use to do, but now that I am implementing that, I find that the idea’s are flowing more quickly and my pages fill up a lot faster than when I try to write everything perfect the first time.  I know that writing comes more easily to me when writing about something that interests me personally, so when preparing for my major assignment I was sure to choose the quote that most interested me on a personal level. I picked the two stories that I thought applied to the quote the most and re-read them and highlighted any area’s that I could refer to and use examples. I make sure to carry a pen and paper on me at all times so that whenever I randomly think of something I can use in my paper, I can write it down and work it into my rough copy when I get a chance. I know I’m very behind in my project since I had a very busy Easter weekend at home, but I am trying to catch up.

   To ensure I will meet the outcomes of this assignment I am paying close attention to the assignment outline while writing, and will be checking my work for mistakes repeatedly before handing it in.

For my representation assignment I drew a picture based on an idea expressed in the story, “On the sidewalk bleeding.” My picture illustrated a man breathing through an oxygen mask, surrounded by various medications. In the pictures he was throwing a pack of cigarettes in the trash can. He had realised the consequence of his choice of habit, and decided to discontinue it. It was obviously far too late to save himself from his self-destructive behaviour, the damage had already been done and he was now faced with suffering and eventual death. This was a similar moral to the class text I chose. The character regretted his chosen path and wished he could change his situation and lifestyle, unfortunately it was too late. This message really spoke to me personally because I have a family member who has died of lung cancer due to his years as a smoker. He quit smoking for ten years before he was diagnosed with the cancer. My illustration and verbal description was clear and I am over-all satisfied with the outcome.

 - Kari.

   When someone is in a situation where they are responsible for running a business, they are continually required to think critically, creatively, and constructively. When I was managing a men’s formalwear business I had to use these thinking skills on a daily basis. It’s important to know everything that is going on within the business, like which employee’s are taking care of what tasks, making sure all clients are being assisted up to business standards, recording and analyzing any problems that occur, and constantly thinking of new ways to make everything run as smoothly as possible.

    Although it is possible to develop these thinking skills on your own with experience, mastering them in school first will give you an immediate advantage when first entering the workforce.

  - Kari