JJ's World Views

Tag: Creative

  • Whats Going On

    Well I have finished my first draft of my first assignment last nite.  I just now finished the analysis of the stories I had to read.  They are both due tonight at 11:59.  My first story is the one about my time down in California when I was in the Army.  I was hesitant about doing this piece because it delves into some really personal details I felt needed to be explored.  I wrote about drunken stupers where I could not remember anything, what I consider the my official loss of virginity and explain why I use the term Official.  The road trip I took with sort of friend Sam and the woman I want to get with Angel.

    I will be posting this story along with other writing projects I am putting in my portfolio in mid-July.  I do not want to do it now because I don’t want to plagiarize myself and this way I will be forced to take my time to rewrite it as well.

    I will be getting out of my house this weekend with my camera to take photos.  I am thinking of starting a survey of the week.  This would be a way for my followers to help keep me on the ball here on my blog.  It would also be a way for me to explore Minnesota to broaden my horizons a bit.  I would look up four different places to go shoot and have you all vote on where you would like to seem my point of view.

    By July I should hopefully have my crowdfunding campaign set up for a study abroad trip I was invited to go on.  I have a choice of South Africa or China.  This class is for people going into the Social Sciences, studying diplomacy.  I have never traveled out of the country before except to head up to Vancouver, British Columbia for a weekend.  I was planning on trying to use my scholarship money to take a trip to Australia this past May.  But, as always life likes to kick me in the ballsack and I had to cancel the trip.  I will get to travel to different places around the world though.  This is something I have wanted to do as a kid, though my family could not afford it at the time.  Back then it was Germany I wanted to go to for class.  Now, I that I am in my forties, I want to see the world.

    If anyone knows how to set one up a crowdfunding campaign and could help me it would be much appreciated.  I have an idea of what to write and maybe a video for it.  The Issue I have is I have no idea what I could give people as a reward for donating at different levels.  What can a poor man give to those willing to help him achieve a dream?  Please leave a message in the comment if you have any ideas.

    Peace be with you my friends.

  • First Week of Summer Semester

    Today is my first day of summer semester at Normandale Community College.  I have one class now, which is Introduction to Creative Writing.  I have another College First Aid and CPR starting in July.  Looking over the syllabus Creative Writing seems like it will be a bit daunting for me.  Time management is something I do need to work on, this class is definitely going to push me to do better.  I will not have this class hurt my GPA, I have yet to get anything less than a B, so far. I will just have to go at this class a bit harder than the others.  This instructor is asking us to open up and push my limits.  This is going to be hard for me, even though on my blog here I am fairly open, I hold myself back.   It has been kind of drilled into me “you have to watch everything you say.  You may offend someone.”  Especially since I want to become a teacher.  So, I never really let loose.

    I am always the nice guy, the safe guy.   I do not not want to hurt people’s feelings, therefore I stifle myself.  If I tell a story I don’t want some people getting angry or embarrassed because I share how I remember event.  So, I change their names, of course I do that if I can not remember their names as well, I am horrible with names.

    In the first week we have to come up with three options for a creative nonfiction piece.  I was finally able to come up the third this afternoon.   The first one is of my time down at Camp Roberts, California.  This story takes place in the central desert in California, right smack dab in between San Francisco and L.A..  This was basically a coming of age story where I am finding myself, filled with alcohol, sex and an orange Chevy Nova.

    The second was about the crazy relationship between me and my ex-wife Liz.  It would go through how we met the issues we had with her family.  The add issue of being a stepfather and dealing with the father of my step daughter.  Also, the good times with the parks we went to and the way we tried to make due in a lower middle class lifestyle.

    The third is the is The Morels and Ethics of an Atheist.  This one will be a sort of build off of Me and Religion. This piece explains my personal moral and ethical beliefs and how I came up with them.  This helps my goal show people that Atheists are the same as everyone else we just do not need to believe in a god to be a good person.  Next assignment is due on the 6th.  I should not have a problem getting it done.

    Peace Be With You