#eng 170

So after looking through DVDs for literally hours upon hours, I was able to put together a relatively short video of some parts of my life.  I am so thankful to my parents for filming throughout my life so I can go back and see myself from years ago.

I decided to do a video with a bit of a narrative in writing, which I'll type here.  I'll try to remember what I was doing and explain certain things you might not understand, just a little more information on my life.

http://youtu.be/0xv0ZhGzFNc

So the video starts out on my third birthday.  I received one of the best gifts any kid my age could want, one of those carpets that is a cartoon-ish town to drive Hot Wheels and other toy cars on.  I remember spending so much time with that thing, I loved it.  I had a huge collection of Hot Wheels with carrying cases and everything.  The other thing I really remember from this is the tool box I was playing with at the very start of the video.  It had all different kinds of tools and a vice, along with working plastic screws and nails.  It was pretty legit, I'm not going to lie.  I also noticed that when my Dad says "Happy Birthday," I reply "Happy Birthday."  Not the brightest kid ever.

The second and third clips are from my Baptism.  I really can't tell you much about this because, well, I don't remember any of it obviously.  The church itself means a lot to me, it's Blessed Sacrament Church in Johnson City.  My Dad grew up going there and my parents got married there.  I went to Sunday school and was part of the church until the flood in 2011 when it finally closed down.

The next clip is in the church parking lot right next to the park, where I spent almost every single Sunday.  My Great Grandfather lived across the street from the church and every Sunday my whole family got together and had lunch after church and just talked.  All of us kids mostly went to the playground.  My cousins and sister are riding bikes while I'm pushing around a lawn mower thing.  You can see my dog (Dixie, a dachshund) in the back walking around.  Probably the best dog we ever had.

The next clip is short but I HAD to include it because I literally burst out laughing when I first saw it.  I was always a klutz as a kid and not too observant, I just don't know how I didn't see something that big.

The next few videos are an island the place we go on vacation every year for 2 weeks, Black Lake, NY.  Our family has been going for generations, ever since my Grandfather was a kid.  No other place has ever meant so much to me.  This year is bittersweet because it's the first year I won't be able to go, as I'm interning at Lockheed Martin in Owego full time.  I started Monday, and I love it, but it's still sad not to be able to go.  I know I was young in this video, but I really remember this picnic clearly.

Next is the camp we used to stay at, The Pines.  We got to know the owners really well and we went up for years at the same camp.  Sadly, the owners split up and the camp ended up closing and is still closed, so we had to find a new camp.  We've been to several different ones but we finally found one that we've been going to for about 5 or 6 years, McLear's.

The interior of our cottage is shown next, with me having a conversation with my Dad about napping and going to the "Sandy Place."  It's a part of the lake we always go to where there's nice sand and we often spend hours at with family on our boats and in the water, just relaxing.  It doesn't have an actual name, but we just went about calling it that because we were young and then it stuck and we still call it that today.

Next, the end of the picnic is shown, right before we go to the "Sandy Place."  I'm rushing everyone because I want to get there.

And of course, next is the "Sandy Place" itself.  Every year we have a great time there just relaxing, starting tubing sessions there, swimming out to the deeper parts of the lake, kayaking, etc.  It's a great place, and I hope to bring my future kids there.  And in the video you get to see me be a brat and try to wipe sand on my mom after she tells me "no" several times :).

The next video is from one Easter, I just thought it was funny because I'm trying to take my sister's eggs from her basket and put them in mine because I couldn't find many.  That's just the kind of kid I was I guess.

The next video had to be my sister's birthday because our family and some of her friends are there, and the fact she's opening gifts.  It just kind of gives an overview of my family.  You can see my Grandpa grabbing my foot and just messing with me in the background.  He's always been a fun guy.

My love of Batman shows in the next clip, I'm ecstatic about getting a "Mr. Freeze" action figure.  I remember the action figure but I don't remember the Easter I got him.  I had to show him around to my Dad and my sister because I was so excited.

I had to include this next clip because my Mom thinks it's hilarious and brings it up whenever she can.  Instead of wanting to eat the chocolate dinosaurs in the box, "I want to bite them."

I seem to have a lot of Easter clips, but here's a clip with family and family friends in our yard searching for eggs.  Again, not super interesting but just shows some of the people in my family who you'll recognize throughout the video.

And fast forward to I think 2004?  Maybe 2005 or 2006.  I'm honestly not sure.  Whenever the Nintendo DS came out, but I was super happy to get it for Christmas and had to explain to my Dad what a big deal it was, which he in turns makes fun of me for.

The final clip shows me during my Confirmation.  I didn't really add anything more recent than that (other than pictures) because it's supposed to be about my past.  Not too much to say here, but I didn't get Confirmed in Blessed Sacrament because every other year we did Confirmation at a church we were partnered with, Saint Vincent's, and my Confirmation fell on a year that we did it at their church.

The pictures show just some fun parts of my life.  The discovery center, then at the Nanticoke Fire Station, which we held a lot of family parties at and my Grandfather helped build.  My first Communion is included, as well as a Christmas from long ago.  The next picture somehow got corrupt when the video compiled but you can see it for a second when it's fading.  I used to always get buzz cuts and on vacation my dad gave me a very lopsided fauxhawk just for fun because I wanted to.  He shaved it off later that day.  Next, I'm getting a caricature done by Jon Ed Bon Fed at the Blind Tiger Pub during a benefit, Jared Campbell was just starting out and played at it.  I met him first back then.  Next is me and one of my dogs, Sammy, back in Junior year of high school I believe.  After that it's me driving our pontoon boat quite some years ago.  The next sequence of pictures are from my Senior year of high school with a lot of my very good friends, and it continues onto a few pictures from prom with my date and friends.  After is a picture from Maryland after a performance we did for our show choir in school at a competition that we won first place in, and the next couple is from Johnson City's Musical in 2012 of Guys and Dolls, which I had a lead in as Arvide Abernathy, as well as a random crapshooter as they were low on the "guys" part of Guys and Dolls.  Our class couldn't afford a senior trip sadly, so we decided to make our own.  Me and one of my best friends, the girl underneath me, set up a trip to Cole Park with everyone invited from our Senior class.  Of course not everyone showed up, but a good amount of people did (more than are in the picture) and we had a cookout, swam, fished, went in boats, had a really great time.  You don't need a lot of money to have a great time.  Next is me and my three best friends, Stephen, Katie, and Collin, left to right.  Out of everyone from high school they're the only ones I really was able to keep close contact with, and I'm very grateful for that.  To end the video, I wanted to throw in a few family photos because my family is what means the most to me.  They've supported me in everything I do and I wouldn't be who I am without them.  My parents, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, everyone is so close.  We're a lucky family to be mostly based out of Johnson City and be so tight knit.

I've been waiting here for what feels like hours.  They just recently began to let their guard down, I think they're staying in that building.  I can see a few talking around a fire they made on the roof, another perched higher by a railing.  He's casually viewing the area through his rifle scope.  I might actually be out of the woods, but what does it matter?  I can't go to my camp, they know where it is now.  I can't even risk stopping at it to get supplies.  Right now, all I have is a rifle with little ammo and some food in my backpack.  Damn them, after all this time I just am going to start over?  I wish I never ran into that son of a bitch, I could have just snuck into the town and gotten out with a few supplies.  Instead, he had us make ourselves completely visible walking down the road.

It's getting dark, but it's not dark enough, at least not enough for me to get away without being seen.  They know I went behind these rocks, they literally just have to wait me out.  They probably don't want to exert the effort to come down and try to find me, they know I might get the jump on at least one of them.  I can't risk leaving yet... I need to wait until I can't even see my hand in front of my face.  I may not be able to see where I'm going, but as long as I keep them behind me, at least I'll be going in the opposite direction.

Time dragged on.  A few of them walked the walls of the town, doing some recon.  How many could there be?  It's like they have a whole God damn colony.  I take out some of the food I found, and of course it's canned.  I don't have a knife, and I don't know where my hatchet is.  I either left it in the town or I dropped it when I ran...  So my only way to open it would be to smash it on the rocks, which would be a bad idea seeing as they're close enough to hear the impacts.  Whatever, food can wait, starving is one of the least of my concerns right now.  It's very dark by now, but if they've adjusted to the darkness they may see movement and just fire their weapons.  No, I need to wait a little longer.

This has literally been the longest evening of my life, but finally I can barely see the rock in front of me.  I wave my hand in front of my face, I see tiny movements, not shape though.  Perfect, I can make my escape now.  I begin to slowly creep away, backwards.  "What am I doing, why am I going slow?  I need to get out of here, what if their eyes adjusted better than mine?!" I think to myself.  I begin to panic, and I turn around and run.  I hear no commotion behind me, they must not have noticed me.  I keep running, I'm actually doing it!  I might get out of here with my life!

Just when I internally celebrate this victory, my foot gets caught on something.  I don't know what it was, but my gun flies out of my hand and slams butt first into a rock. There's an incredibly loud 'pop', and a bright flash of light in front of me.  This cheap rifle must have set off a round from the impact...  All of the sudden, I hear yelling behind me.  I turn around to see four lights coming towards me.  I begin to run again, completely disoriented, not knowing what lies ahead of me.  Again I fall, I curse my luck, I curse God, I curse everything.  This is the end.

The men come up on me before I can get up.  The first thing I see other than the lights is a boot come right at my face.  I fall over again, and the next thing I know my body is getting battered by what feels like dozens of steel toes.  I can feel open wounds, I cry out in pain, begging it to stop.  Surprisingly, it does, and I'm flipped over on my back.  I look up at a bright light, blinding me.  The last words I hear are "No more squealing, piggy."  I hear a loud pop and everything goes dark.

I don’t know what happened.  I just woke up here.  I’m cold, the wind is fierce.  I have only a pair of pants, a sturdy rock, and some bandages on me.  I’m alone.  There’s a road ahead, going into the distance, with some tan rocky mountains beyond the green, abundant grass.  I’m filthy and unshaven.

I have no recollection of anything before this point.

END

So, because I'm an idiot, I completely missed the email about the reflection post and posted about NYC because I had just gotten back and I was excited to talk about it.  Sorry about that.  Anyway, I wanted to take this opportunity to write a brief reflection on my pieces of writing so far.

There doesn't seem to be an extremely common theme between my writing.  Honestly, they're all over the place.  I've shared things that are depressing, confusing, exciting, angry, bizarre, and full of wonder (at least I'd like to think some parts of my stories are that :) ).  I think the thing that the thing that stands out most about my pieces is that I'm sort of showing who I am through them.  My New York post showed that I can get angry and disappointed quite easily, as seen with the mix up at the Top of the Rock observation tower or the Empire State building.  I'm passionate about certain things so I think that's why I get angry when things I was expecting to be awesome don't go as planned.  I'm also somewhat a loner at times, I spend a lot of time alone and I don't always like it.  It's just who I am sometimes.  I love hard, and I fall hard, and I rarely choose the right person.  I've always been a relatively good writer (at least I've been told by all my English teachers and professors) so I can keep flow going pretty good through a piece.  I can be lazy as well.  If I don't have an assignment on Angel, as I know we only get assignments on Tumblr for the most part, I don't think about checking Angel.  That of course bode well for this assignment (sarcasm) as I didn't even know about the reflection until I started seeing everyone's posts.

Hi Everybody,

I thought it would be good for us to take a break from posting this week. You’ve been posting every week of the semester—your own work, plus comments on others’ work—and now, after you’ve done some reflecting on the things you’ve written, it’s time to really think about how to proceed for the rest of the semester. So read your work again, make notes, draw up plans, consider the comments that have been given to you, and watch your inboxes for commentary from me.

Best,

I went to New York this weekend, first time since 2002.  I went with a friend who met up with another friend that she hadn't seen since we were in 7th grade, but kept in close contact with.  This was planned, and worked out because I bought a New York Pass so I could get into a lot of attractions for a moderate price.  So first I picked it up (since I ordered it online) and started my way up from Port Authority to the Museum of Natural History.  I spent a good two hours in there but hardly saw a fraction of the museum.  I'll have to go to NYC sometime and dedicate the day to JUST the museum, there's way too much to see when you want to do other things in the city.  So I left the museum by 12:30 and my next stop was the Rockefeller center to see the Top of the Rock observation deck.

I decided to walk through Central Park on my way down (which is pictured above with the city in the skyline).  After exiting the park, I made my way down the busy streets full of honking taxis and rushing people.  After walking all around Rockefeller Plaza, I finally found the entrance I needed.  I got inside, they let me in a special line with no wait due to my NY Pass, and then I found out that it just got me a ticket for the next trip up... at 3:40.

So I got my ticket and went on my way towards the Empire State Building to see that Observation Deck.  Of course I get in to find out that all my NY Pass does there is get me a free ticket, it doesn't count as a ticket.  So I start waiting in line, and a lady asks how long it will be from the point we're in in the line and she's told 90 minutes.  So I just said forget this and made my way back through the crowded line, hopping a few of the barriers just to get out because people won't move.  Luckily my next destination is also in the Empire State Building, the New York Skyride, a virtual tour of NY in a moving movie theater type ride.  For this, I have to go through a metal detector, so I remove my backpack and my pockets, which contain a pocket knife, as I always carry one with me in case of any emergency.  It's legal in NYC if it follows certain specifications, and mine did.  So they just held onto it in a bag and gave me a ticket that I could return to them on my way out to get it back.

After the Skyride it was about 3:25 and I was several blocks away from the Rockefeller Center.  I hurried along and rushed up to get back in time.  I made it by 3:45, but they said I could still go up, the time simply means that you can't enter anytime before it.  I waited in line for about 10 minutes and when I got to the metal detector, I saw a sign that had a pocket knife inside of a prohibited symbol.  I got a little scared and when I got up to the security guard I told him that I had one and asked if I was allowed to go in or not.  He tells me angrily that I either need to throw away the knife or leave.  The knife is worth more than the ticket would have been so I just left.  I was really surprised that the Empire State Building would let me in after holding onto my knife but some random observation deck in the Rockefeller Center wouldn't.  I figured they'd just ask for it and tell me I'd get it back when I was done.  Nope.  I was pretty upset that two of my destinations, and ones that I was most excited for, were shot.

After that there wasn't much else I had planned - it was too late to get on a ferry to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and the only other thing I could do that I had planned was go to the 9/11 memorial.  Of course my friend texted me and told me that her friend had to go down to Long Island at 6, an hour before I expected her to, so she could meet up with me.  So I made my way down from Central Park to meet her and by that point her feet were killing her and mine was sore, but she said we could do whatever I wanted.  I didn't want her to have to walk all the way down to a subway and then around the memorial, so I decided that we could just go to Times Square, which I knew she would want to do and I wanted to do as well.

The rest of the trip was just us walking and talking and taking pictures pretty much.  She really hurt her feet with these boots she wore so I tried to have us walk as little as possible.  We had our ride back to Binghamton at 11.  We arrived at the station by maybe 10:20 or 10:30 and just waited.  One the trip home we talked and slept mostly.  After, I drove her to her house and went home myself.

To finish out the class, I'd like you to do a final posting. I've been working with you mostly through email lately, asking questions and making suggestions about how to develop a final piece for the semester. Most of you seem to already be engaged in thinking about this, but I thought I'd post some questions and answers about it.

Q: So there’s a final posting?

A: Yes.

Q: Wait. What kind of final posting? Did you give that assignment already?

A: No. In general I’ve been working with you individually, sending emails, making suggestions, etc, that should lead you to your final posting. 

Q: What if you haven’t really done that with me?

A: If I haven’t made any suggestions about a final posting yet, or asked you any questions regarding where you are in your work, let me know.

Q: Okay. But what’s this final posting thing about?

A: A final post should be a sequence of pieces (poems, nonfiction or fiction), a completed short story, a set of texts with illustrations, a letter, a full CD, etc. This should represent the work you’ve done this semester. 

Q: Does it have to be a specific length?

A: No. I’ve been making suggestions to various writers concerning lengths I’d like to see from them, given the type of work they’re doing—my expectations are tailored to each writer. 

Q: Is there something you want everybody to do?

A: There are a few things. First of all, if you’re putting a sequence of pieces together (poetry, fiction, etc), I’d like you to think long and hard about what you’d like to start the sequence with—which poem, flash fiction or so on should come first. The first piece sets the tone for a collection, and announces a set of themes the reader will encounter. I’d also like you to give thought to what piece should come last. What last word or words do you want the reader to encounter?

Q: What about the stuff in between? Can I just shovel it in there?

A: I thought we were done with foolish questions.

Q: There will never be an end to foolish questions.

A: Fair enough. No, of course I don’t want you to shovel the rest of the stuff in. Once you’ve selected the first piece, look at the last few lines of it. Then, find a piece whose opening lines recall those last lines, or present the opposite of those last lines, or somehow take the next logical step from those last lines (if you have transitions between days, seasons, or numbers, for instance). 

Q: What if I can’t find that stuff?

A: Then you might consider the overall mood of the pieces—if you were a reader, what kind of transitions between moods would you like to experience? 

Q: Wait. Does this final posting have to be titled?

A: Yes.

Q: I’m really bad at titles.

A: Read the whole sequence over. What’s the most memorable line of the entire thing? What word or words are repeated? What image or images appear again and again? 

Q: Yeah I try that and I’m still bad at titles.

A: Give it another shot.

Q: Okay.

A: In fact, for this week I’d like you to read over everything you’ve done. Your post this week should try to identify common themes, words or images throughout your work this semester. 

As we walked toward my camp, I felt uneasy.  The whole way he was behind me, watching my every move.  I felt like I was just his pack mule, carrying his supplies to my camp, and then he'd shoot me when we got there and take it for his own.  I don't trust this man.  Then again, I haven't seen another person in longer than I can remember, and the fact that he told me he's murdered people doesn't make me feel any better.

Just as my mind began to wander, I heard a loud bang from behind, a distance away.  I quick whipped myself around and saw him looking at his stomach, slowly stumbling forward, before falling to his knees and then falling on his face.  That's when I saw the bloody hole in his back, and it wasn't long before a pool formed underneath him.  Just then I heard another shot, and I saw the dirt in front of me kick up from the impact.  I quickly grabbed his gun and ran for it.

I had no idea where the shots came from other than it was the direction of the town.  The shooter had to be high up in order to see us over the walls.  I came up to some large rocks and I took cover behind them.  After about 3 minutes, I slowly moved to the side of them and used the scope on gun I picked up to try to look at the area above the wall.  I was only out for a second when I heard another shot and literally felt the air from the bullet pass my head.  I quickly got back behind the rock.

The only place I can assume he'd be is the small platform on the smokestack, or else in a window.  I didn't really care, this guy had pretty good aim and I only had an assault rifle with a low power scope.  I wasn't going to get any shots off.  So I quickly began to army crawl toward the next group of rocks, luckily not too far away and I would be blocked by rocks the whole way to it if I stayed low.  My heart was pounding like never before.

The best way to revise your work is to read it aloud. When you do this, you’ll easily hear any awkward or unclear phrasing. If you stumble over a word, get rid of it. If you say words that aren’t yet in the piece, make changes.

With your final project, I’d like to read each line over again and again until you can discover no more changes to make.