I'm kind of tired of titles

Do I have anything to talk about today? Not really. I changed one of my other blogs to a book review blog. See, some editors said that you need to have a blog if you want to get published. Well, I have three, but none of them had anything to do with writing. So I changed one of them to be a book review. Should be interesting. I don't know if anyone will read it. But no one reads this one, either, and I don't let that stop me.

I've been daydreaming an awful lot today. That probably makes me sort of weird. I have all these imaginary conversations, and then, when I have a real conversation, it just doesn't compare.

Listening to some of the things that people talk about in my language disorder classes make me realize that I would be a terrible speech-language pathologist. Good thing I learned early on that I didn't want to do that. And listening to horror stories about lawsuits in my audiology classes make me realize that I don't care about the ear enough to do a really good job on anyone. Good thing I'm not going to do that either.

However, hearing about how the economy is going to get worse before it gets better makes me realize I should have chosen a major that would help me to get a job. I wish there was something about me that makes me invaluable to the work force. *sigh*

Parking Tickets Must Die

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I got a parking ticket on Friday for doing a good deed. Wrong zone. Stupid BYU parking police came five minutes (literally!) before I got to the car.

And today, I got a second parking ticket. This time, it's because BYU refuses to provide enough parking for all the students, forcing me to park on the street. I checked to make sure that it wasn't a red zone, but unfortunately, due to the snow that covered everything, I failed to notice the sign that was too covered up to read anyway which said that I was in a no parking zone between 8-4. I was just trying to go to a class that I hate anyway. Thanks, City of Provo. Everyone knows you hate students, well guess what. If we all disappeared, you would die. We're the reason this ridiculous little city functions.

So now, all the money that I've been diligently saving for Rommel's birthday on the 9th will now go to paying parking tickets. Yeah, I'm not going to lie, I was crying when I got that second one. I have no idea where the money will come from now. My meager paycheck has already been cut down because of all the holidays I was forced to take (Stupid New Years. Stupid MLK day. Who decided that these were holidays? And who decided that people can't go to work on holidays they don't believe in?). And I'm still trying to recover from tuition and books and Christmas. I've taken every opportunity to try to come early and stay late at work, and yet still, the nickels and dimes are not adding up.

I know, I know, it's not about the money, it's about being together, and it's the thought that counts, blah blah blah. But he works so hard to take care of me, and he does so much for me, and this is the one day of the year that can just be all about him. We don't have to deal with families or friends or Hallmark or commercialism. And I don't have anything to show him how much I love him and appreciate him. And the reason why? Because BYU and the city of Provo have no mercy.

I really need something to cheer me up. I wish I had some See's Candies.

I think I have the beginnings of a headache

So I had nightmares all night about my stupid lesson tomorrow. It was awful. And then I got up and looked at all the notes that I made on it already, and I hate them all. They didn't work out so well in the dream, and so I'm convinced they won't work now. Irrational, I know. That's the way my brain works.

I'm pretty sure I'll do the stupid, cliche Jeopardy thing. I just can't come up with anything else. I'm not cut out to be a Sunday School teacher. It's so...fact-based. And when you put a bunch of BYU students in a room with a bunch of facts, they just want to screw them all up. *sigh*

I finished reading Shannon Hale's The Goose Girl today. One of my new favorite books of all time. I loved it. She has such a melodic rhythm to her writing, it really does feel like you're lying in a warm bed, hearing your mother read you fairy tales. I can't get the book out of my mind. It reminds me of the first time I ever heard Sleeping Beauty or Rapunzel. I feel like a kid all over again, just waiting to become a princess. I want to be a princess.

And I don't know why Princess Academy got Newbery Honor and this one didn't. It really should have, it was better than Princess Academy. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but The Goose Girl is a hundred times better.

Everything I see today seems to be talking about pie. I want some pie.

The Inside of My Ear Itches

But I can't scratch it because of all the horror stories I've heard from my Audiology classes. Like the one lady who was scratching the inside of her ear with a bobby pin and her daughter opened the door without knowing she was behind it and she jammed the bobby pin right through her eardrum. Ick.

So I'm not going to lie to you. I just don't want to do my homework. Or get my lesson ready for Sunday. Wow, I get so scared every time I think about that. I just know I'm going to do something stupid. I always do. I shouldn't be allowed to speak in public.

I got a parking ticket today. That sucks. I was working, for heaven's sake! But I don't know if I want to fight it, I doubt they'll accept that as an excuse. I hate the BYU parking police people.

I'm really sick of all the telemarketing calls. We unlisted our number, shouldn't they stop calling? It's so annoying. I can't understand why they're wasting their time with newlywed students. Who has less money than our demographic?

You know, Mary Kate and Ashley used to be so adorable. "You got it, dude!" Other than them, Full House is pretty uninteresting. Cheesy and without personality. The girls are snotty little brats, I can't imagine my parents letting me say things like that to them. And the three men have no personality at all. I do like Lori Loughlin, though, even if they do suck all the personality out of her in that show. Hmm.

Unfortunately, I think this is about as far as I can drag this one out.

My First Real Post

So, everything prior to this was done for an assignment, no need to pay any attention to it. I sort of miss the days when we turned in a paper or something for school. No, now we have to create blogs and update them every week with our assignments. I think teachers just don't want to have to deal with paper anymore. Stupid anti-papites.
As you can probably tell by now, I have nothing of interest to say today. Class is just super boring and I have nothing better to do.

Rhetorical Analysis 12: Historical Speech

The speech I chose was Hitler's "Berlin: Proclamation to the German Nation" (http://www.hitler.org/speeches/02-01-33.html.) The argument he's making is that the Marxist government has done nothing to help the German people in fourteen years and his government should be given four years to attempt to fix the country. His audience is the farmers and working class of the German nation, particularly those that were negatively affected by the post-war government.

Though I couldn't find footage of this particular speech, I did watch other speeches of Hitler's, and he is always passionate. He truly believed what he was saying, and it's easy to understand how he convinced others to believe it as well. He uses a great deal of emotion in his words as well. He begins this speech by justifying their part in WWI, saying that they were only "filled with the desire to defend the Fatherland" and to "preserve the freedom, nay, the very existence, of the German people." He then tries to anger the people by talking about "the misery of our people." Hitler explains the situation of the working class by calling them "unemployed," "impoverished," and "starving." Then he lays out his plan for helping the farmers and ending unemployment.

His conclusion appeals to logic. He says, "The Marxist parties and their lackeys have had fourteen years to show us what they can do. The result is a heap of ruins. Now, people of Germany, give us four years, then pass judgement on us." This seems so simple, what is four years after fourteen of misery? After being convinced of how terrible the situation is currently, any change seems to be good change.

The argument is mostly sufficient, though he doesn't give specific examples of what he will do to end unemployment, just that he will do it. The argument is typical, first empathizing with the audience and making them feel better about themselves before uniting them against a common enemy...in this case, the Marxist party. I don't know history well enough to know if the argument is accurate, but I do know that the German nation was doing poorly financially after WWI, so that part is correct. The argument is relevant, because the people were upset about their governement and he was giving an option to replace it.

I believe that this speech was effective. When dealing with a big group like this, drilling them with specific facts would only bore them. The situation required passion, and Hitler delivered beautifully. They wanted to feel united against an enemy, and Hitler fed them Marxism on a silver platter. They wanted to feel that a solution was in the near future, and Hitler promised it to them. I do not mean this as a political statement, but there are many similarities in this speech and the recent election promises. We are also a country that is torn apart financially by a war, and Obama has created an enemy of the Bush administration. His promises worked for us in the same way that Hitler's promises worked for the German people.

Rhetorical analysis 11: Music video

The music video I chose is "Untitled" by Simple Plan. The video is making an argument against drunk driving, and points out that no one is exempt from tragedy. The audience being targeted is teenagers that don't see a problem with drinking and driving.

The video bases most of its argument on emotions. They try to show the overarching effects of drunk driving by not only showing the girl that was hurt but also the way it affects her family. The family is shown doing normal things, like washing dishes and playing video games until the moment of the crash. Then it is the family as well as the girl that are crashing into walls and through glass. It's a poignant image of how a normal night can instantly become a disaster by one person's choice. The song itself is sung from the point of view of the drunk driver, who sincerely regrets his mistake. The final line of the chorus is "How could this happen to me?" which implicates that too many people believe that a drunk driving incident couldn't happen them...and it could. The video does appeal to pathos at the very end of the video, when it lists statistics of teen drunk driving accidents and gives a phone number if you want to get involved in preventing drunk driving.

The argument is sufficient. It shows characters that you can feel empathy for and relate to. It uses normal scenes that are familiar to teenagers and twists them into a tragedy. The argument is typical. It takes an event that seems distant to teens and gives the people involved faces and voices so that they become more real. The argument is also accurate, because these accidents happen all the time and in the same way. Lastly, the argument is revelant, because teen drunk driving is still on the rise and accidents are still killing many teenagers.