Q3

My Readership did improve for a short time after the start of the second quarter . From October to November my page views jumped from 11 to 57. It decreased steadily until February it picked back up again. I can recognize where the posts grabbed the most attention because of their subject matter. The most commonly viewed page had harsh facts and a controversial issue that everyone can have an opinion on. My frequency did not play a part in helping get more views. Because I have not been able to get on the blogging website, the blogs I wrote had to be posted close together when I could finally figure out a way to get on. Adding a little media did not make any improvement so I could try to learn how to incorporate more media.

My most popular post was the post titled “yummm…..”. This blog was the most popular because it presented a controversial issue that everyone has an opinion on. Since most people eat meat it is very easy for them to comment and leave their opinion of a common food that they eat. Anyone can read that and say “I’m sorry, I’ve always eaten meat and always will”. I think it grabbed readers attentions because of the disturbing realities of the meat industry. Unfortunately, I hate to read these things but it grabs the attention of people who aren’t as disturbed by the killing of animals this way. My second most popular post was “ghost stories”. I’m thinking people saw the title and assumed I would have some crazy/scary ghost story to share.

I think people are reading my blog on accident because I have no followers besides my classmates. My blog must come up when searching for something related to my topic and they happened to read it.

 I’m still confused how to get more readers if the people I tell aren’t interested. Some friends did actually go and read my blogs, but others don’t have time or don’t care to. Writing about something that grabs readers attention obviously will always get people to read, but it is proven in my blog with gruesome details and gory images. I have trouble thinking of these kind of topics everytime I blog because I think of it more of talking to myself than writing something I want others to read. However, when I wrote about something that I really wanted to see reader’s reactions I received great results. I will try to think of better topics in the future that I want responses to. Because of my difficulty in picking topics in the past, the quality of my blogs are not as good as they could be. Therefore, I would give myself a C+. I need to dig deeper to come up with topics and then I will be more excited about telling people to read and comment.

 I have learned what is pretty obvious, that readers are going to continue to read when your topic continues to be interesting. If you grab their attention in one or two blogs there will be a better chance of them continuing to read your blog. If you write about something that really interests you and gets your attention, it will have a better chance of getting other’s. This can be used in any type of writing, if you like the topic others will too. My persona has not changed much, I still feel like I am writing to myself rather than an audience. However, now that I am evaluating my posts and I see what I can change I see my writer’s persona changing for future blogs.

I will be so unbelievably relieved when this year is over. Just trying to write a blog about how stressful this year has been is stressing me out. I can’t even put my feelings into thoughts let alone words. The last three years I have been able to do homework when I got home until 7:30 or 8 and be in bed by 9. Life was good then. I seemed to have plenty of time for all my studying and homework which allowed me to have an A average. The only class I struggled with was math but I always managed to get an A. I couldn’t stay up past 11 if I tried and I never needed to. This year, if I go to bed by 11 I consider it lucky and a good night sleep. No matter if I start my homework the second I get home and don’t take a break, I have so much every night that I cannot get it all done before 12. To me this is ridiculous because it is senior year! I don’t expect to not have to do anything to do, but this has been my hardest year by far. No matter how hard I try, I seem to not be able to keep track of everything or do well in my classes. It’s so frustrating because I am really hard on myself when it comes to school and as much as I would like to claim I don’t care and blow it off, I can’t. Some of the added stress might come from taking an extra science class instead of an elective. I decided to take anatomy because I thought it would look good for college transcripts to see I didn’t slack off during senior year. Also because everyone thought it would be an easy A so everyone took it. As it turns out it is one of the hardest classes I have this year. My job might also play a role in taking some of my time even though I mostly work weekends and usually only one school night a week. Or maybe it’s my Blue Gold responsibilities lately? I have to keep track of other people and myself. I don’t know what it is but I can’t keep up. I feel like as soon as I have to wake up I need to write to-do lists so I don’t forget. I feel like I don’t have time to talk to friends because I’m spending all night doing homework. The last couple of years have not been like this at all so it’s disappointing to expect a little bit of a break this year and end up having the most work yet. Hopefully next year, with only a few long classes, will leave me more time to relax and get organized. There are just not enough hours in the day.

I am officially enrolled in James Madison University so the Fall 2011 semester. I just received a letter confirming they got our deposit which I was unaware my mom sent. This confirmation made me so happy because it finally feels like reality. I don’t know how the idea got stuck in my head that I would love JMU, but I think it had something to do with my sister’s husband mentioning how everyone he knew who went there had so much fun. I’ve always wanted to go to Virginia for college because I wanted to go south but not at far as North or South Carolina. Virginia seemed like the perfect in between state. Then when I started searching for colleges I had specific criteria that I was looking for: large town campus, at least 15,000 students, no more than 6 hours away, and enough of an academic challenge. Luckily I visited JMU in September to learn that I should apply early action if I really liked the school. As it turned out, I loved the school, the campus and the people. My tour guide told us you know the school for you as soon as you step on campus. Luckily I felt just like that and knew immediately this was the perfect school for me. Feeling this confident that I wanted to go there I applied early action and put off applying to my back up schools. Luckily I found out I was accepted to JMU before the deadlines for the other schools so I didn’t even have to bother applying. A lot of people give me a crazy look when they hear I only applied to one school, but I was so convinced that this was the only place I could really see myself. Now there are only 5 months until I will be calling JMU my home.

Prom...

Prom is coming up and everyone is talking about it. I go along with it but I’m really dreading it. Dress shopping comes first, which I haven’t even started. Unlike some people I know, I am not willing to pay $500 for a dress that I will wear one night. Most of the prom dresses out there are hideous and extremely overpriced. Therefore, I will be putting off dress shopping till the last minute. Also, a more important aspect of prom is a date. I have no one in mind at all to go with which leaves me in a tricky situation. I would go alone if another friend did, but pretty much everyone has a date. Prom isn’t like homecoming where you can bring a random date. You usually want to bring someone you actually like and will have fun with. If I bring someone from outside of school who doesn’t know any of my friends I will have to spend my night entertaining him and I can’t hang out with friends. What if I ask and he says no? What if he goes and is really bored? How do you even ask a guy to prom?! Also if I bring someone from another school, do I have to pay for my dates ticket since I’m inviting him, even though I’m a girl? A dress and tickets alone are going to be ridiculous! Then there are also shoes, hair, and possibly a limo to pay for! It’s all too much. Hopefully all the money spent is worth it in the end. It is said that senior prom is way better than junior prom so maybe it will be worth it.

Saturday Detention?

Nowhere in the handbook does it say you will receive a 3 hour Saturday detention for being late to homeroom. I have not received one of these yet but if I do I will be furious. I don’t understand how the school can make up rules mid-year making kids come on a Saturday morning when detentions have always been served after school. Are they really allowed to do this? And are they allowed to tell you to “wear clothes you can get dirty”? They act like these kids are vandalizing the school and they need to clean it. They should stop obsessing over kids being 5 minutes late to school and start worrying about bigger problems like the fact that every student is failing phase 4 physics. I know a lot of the people that have received these detentions and none of them are bad students. They should focus more on the kids who are disrespectful and need the discipline. A lot of other things about our school annoy me, like the plasma TV’s that are showing up everywhere and the unnecessary trophy case. Most of the huge TV’s are never on or in pointless places. This money spent on these items is completely wasted in my opinion. Why don’t they use this for financial aid or better tools for the teachers. Is the huge TV outside the gym (that is hidden by the huge trophy case) really necessary to announce the scores of games? I don’t understand.  All I know is I can’t wait to graduate!

Blue Gold

Blue gold week is coming up soon and there has been so much preparation involved to get ready! Before becoming a part of the team of chairs that organizes the entire group I never realized how much work went into it. I also never understood why there needed to be so many people to do the job. Every higher authority has at least 5 people below them so the chain of people involved in Blue Gold is huge. This causes a lot of problems though. Miscommunication happens so easily when you have to get one message from the president through 5 different people to get to the lower chairs. This has already happened in my section when my supervisor above me failed to relay a message that I was supposed to tell to the people below me. This kind of thing cannot happen because one little mess up hurts the whole group. It has taught me a lot about working with others and communicating properly. I have no idea how Amanda Walsh has done such an amazing job keeping track of every aspect of Blue Gold. From Athletics to concessions to buddy groups to planning events, she has to oversee that every little detail is taken care of and done correctly. On top of school work and everything else, I have no idea how she keeps everything straight. Blue Gold has been a great learning experience and it has made me appreciate it so much more to be a part of it this year.

What I will miss about home

As graduation approaches, the reality of college gets scarier and scarier. Don’t get me wrong, I cannot wait to get away from home and experience college! But I was just thinking of all the little things that are going to make a HUGE difference. First of all, sharing a room with a stranger could obviously be a really fun thing or really awkward/weird/bad thing. What are the chances that you get paired with someone you are 100% compatible with? I am an only child so I have never shared a house let alone a room with anyone else. I’ve always wanted a sibling/roommate to hang out with but you basically have no space to yourself to get away. Also, if you really don’t like your roommate, you can’t get away from them. I’m just praying I get someone I get along with and that doesn’t stay up till 3 a.m. when I want to sleep. Another thing I was thinking about was the showers. I’m going to miss having my own shower that I don’t have to wear flip flops in or carry my shampoo (ect.) back and forth to. I guess it’s something you get used to but I will definitely miss the privacy of my own home. Another thing I will miss is my puppy. She sleeps with me every night and I have to leave her and only see her on breaks. I’m worried she won’t love me as much after leaving her for so long. I wish I could bring her with me so she doesn’t forget me! I would also like to bring my car. I don’t know the area where my college is but it will be inconvenient to not be able to jump in my car and go wherever I need to. It’s also going to be weird to not have a kitchen right downstairs with the food you’re used to. This is going to be especially difficult for me because I live off of soy burgers and other non meat products. I really doubt my college will serve these foods so I’m going to be living off salad. Another sad thing about going to college is not having my mom right there to talk to whenever I need her. I talk to my mom about everything and always want her opinion. Even if I stayed close to home and went to UD she still wouldn’t be there to talk to. That will definitely be the hardest thing to get used to but that’s all part of growing up. Things are going to change so much next year and I’m excited and really scared at the same time.