Annotate

Dearest Friend, (Pathos, Tone, Implications, Assertion)

To annotate or not to annotate, 'tis the question. 

NO. 'Tis NOT the question. 'Tis a STUPID question. Annotate everything. Would you like to you know why? Because Ms. Serensky diligently checks annotations every single day you DON'T do them. Trust me, personal experience. She checks every summer reading book you don't annotate, and then makes you fight your way back to a solid B after starting academically ineligible! (By the way, I recommend you download this onto a word document so that you may annotate while you read my post). I wish I could re-do my years in AP English with the knowledge that I have now, my reading patterns would go as follows: read, annotate, re-read, re-annotate, annotate my original annotations, annotate my re-annotations, repeat. I concluded from a 99% confidence interval that this is the only way to ensure anything above a 5+ on an in-class essay. However, even if you write a sub-standard essay, Ms. Serensky generously awards gifted annotaters, and one may achieve up to an 86% with mere annotations skills. Make triangles, sqaures, pentagons, and whatever other shape you can imagine around the directions and prompt to exemplify your thorough understanding of the task at hand. Therefore, I leave you with this- Forget to annotate once, shame on you. Forget to annotate twice, F. Thus, if ever faced with the question, to annotate or not to... Don't even think about it. 

Sincerely, 

Adam Shoemaker

Dear Journal :)

This day has already made me so stressed out and I just woke up uggghhhh!!! In an effort to streamline my efficiency, I have decided to combine my usual morning journal entry and to-do list into a single writing period. Thus, hear we go. First, I need to go practice my oboe immediately after I finish this entry. Ahh my maestro demanded that I master Zelenka's Trio Sonata, and I have not practiced nearly enough this week to complete the task! Yes, I must get a solid two-hour jam session in before I leave for school. On the drive, I will eat, text my mom goodbye, finish up my optional calculus homework, win a scholarship to Ohio State, and operate my stick-shift vehicle that takes my sister and I to school. During my classes, I must sit attentively and take detailed notes which my mum might check later for thoroughness. Lunch? Yeah right. I have not sat down and eaten lunch since Texas. I will rush straight to the library and pick up where I left off today in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary that sits on a podium in the middle of the room. I believe I made it through seigneurial today, I must finish the book before the school year runs out! After "lunch," I will hurry back to class. I can't believe that I had homework in all 9 AP classes I take this year... Ridiculous. It seems as though each teacher believes their subject to hold the most importance! Alas, I silent my protests and will complete the homework anyway. Upon the final bell of the day, I race from the school and never fail to discover my equally stressed-out sister waiting impatiently by the car, tapping her foot. From school I will maneuver the car to Severance Hall for yet another oboe lesson/practice while my sister perfects her own instrument. Then, we will stay for the Cleveland Orchestra Concert that night, once again taking thorough notes on playing techniques before briskly making our way home to polish off the night with some good old homework. I want to finish the week's homework tonight so that I can memorize my beloved Trio Sonata. However, if I have calculated correctly, the clock will then strike 9 o'clock and I will march off to bed so that my hyperactive, extremely intelligent, and stressed brain may relax.


P.S. Good dream about Dan from Watchmen last night ;)




P.P.S. I got to play the role of the Twilight Lady...   =)   :)  :)   ;)

Lose the Cynicism and Grow Up

           Thus far in my blogging career, I have acted as an adolescent. Actually, some would argue that I have blogged like an immature pre-teen. You know, that super awkward age where you think everything you say will make people laugh, you always want to act rather absurdly, and you question and debate everything? Anyway, I want this post to serve as something along the lines of my "Blogger Life puberty." I want to grow up, mature, become a man, and lose the childish absurdity and cynicism. I have grown tired of my incessant skepticism of what others say. I have grown tired of attempting to infuse ridiculous humor into every English assignment even though nearly all prohibit such a goal. Finally, I have grown tired of acting immaturely and outrageously in the classroom. I will attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the fall of 2013 as a born and bred Tar Heel. I have never found as much excitement in anything as I have in this. I will major in Computer Science and Engineering at UNC with a minor in Finance. The rigorous path I chose to put in my path will force me to hunker down and study frequently, so the University does not regret their offer of admission and toss me out as soon as I get there. However, although I have become accustomed to acting like an idiot in the majority of my classes, I am ready and willing to make this necessary change to a dedicated and enthusiastic student. I will do whatever it takes to dominate my classes at UNC and build a strong foundation of knowledge during my first year. College will give me a fresh start, a new identity. The opportunity to build a new reputation sits directly in front of me, and I simply must take it head on. Undoubtedly I will face challenges on this quest to form a better Adam Shoemaker, but I must conquer them so my peers view me as a leader in the class and try to emulate my work ethic. I do not want them to regard me as "dead weight" or  an unnecessary part of a research team, but rather I want them to regard me as the leader and the hardest worker. I will achieve this image by casting away my sarcastic, skeptical, lazy, and nonchalant attitude and develop one of intensity, enthusiasm, and open-mindedness. Currently, my opinion in group projects stands as follows, "the only way is my way." Bradley knows that better than anyone, but I want to change that aspect about myself and become an open-minded person that considers all opinions and suggestions. Perhaps, I will even become a liberal. All in all however, I want to abandon my immature attitude in the classroom, and crave that my peers look to me as an academic leader.