Post 27 - Blogging in Class

I've liked blogging since Professor Hamon first introduced me to it in composition 1. I started my own personal blog, but have not had as much time to put into it as I would like. Unfortunately that time is being taken up on my studies here at South University and caring for my family. I manage to post in between semesters, but that's been about it. I am glad that I was taught about blogging and the openness that it gives to get my thoughts out. It also gives me a forum to continue working on my writing.

Post 26 - Using Google Drive in the Class

I have appreciated the opportunity that Professor Hamon has given us to learn about Google Drive. I've found it extremely useful and have been using it for other classes and my personal use. For my pathophysiology class, you can't do well if you don't record the lectures and repeatedly listen to them. When one of my fellow students missed a lecture, we were having issues figuring out a way to share our recordings. I ended up uploading the lectures that I recorded with my phone to Google Drive and then sharing through their Google accounts with those that needed a copy of a particular missed lecture. Some of my classmates would have been up a creek if I had not learned the many uses of Google Drive in my composition classes!! 

Post 25 - Writing in Wikipedia

I really enjoyed the experience of learning to write in a Wikipedia article. It was fun to write something, post it to a well known website, and have the knowledge that others may use my writing to learn something. I like teaching and helping others, so there is a definite satisfaction in knowing that I may have helped people that I don't even know. Also, the research that was required of us in order to even write our portion of the Wikipedia article was a huge help when it was then time to write our Doc 2. All in all I appreciated the exposure to something new and will be looking for more ways to contribute to Wikipedia in the future.

Post 24 - Death

There is no life without death. I think that one of the biggest part of our journey through life is coming to the realization that we will die. Death, and the fact of our own death, is always there, but I think that it takes living and losing others before we truly accept that death is an inevitable end to the journey that we call life. All that we can do is to be the best kind of person that we can, love others, and make our life something that makes a mark on the world. At the end, death is the natural conclusion to a life lived. We are born, we live, and then we die. The end. It's what we do in the middle part, the living, that really matters. So live and make your mark!!

Post 23 - Death of a Marriage

My first marriage was a learning experience that reminds me of the recent loss of my father. I know that it seems kind of wrong to compare the two, but my grief is very much the same.

By the time I left my ex-husband, he had become a drug addict and abused my child. I did my best to hold on and make the marriage work because I wanted my children to grow up with both parents in the household. I was the product of divorce, and I absolutely did not want that for my children. The day I walked out on our marriage, I had arrived home to see that he had pushed the baby swing that held our 5 month old baby over. The swing collapsed in on the baby and left him with bruises all over his head and face. That was unacceptable and I packed up my kids and myself and walked out of the marriage. I had given and done everything that I knew to do so that our marriage would work. That made the leaving so much easier. Our "marriage box" was empty. When only one person is adding to your "marriage box" and the other just takes, then your box is forever empty. I was tired of adding to the marriage and getting nothing but problems and abuse in return. That's not what a marriage is supposed to be.

When my dad died in April, I also knew that I had done everything that I knew how to do to help him at the end. We were very close. He was my friend as much as he was my father. I had also been living at home with my mother and him and was his primary caretaker. I made sure that he took the right medications, that he ate, and that he had everything that he needed. We talked and laughed and debated politics and the news. I have no regrets about not spending enough time with him or not doing enough to make the end of his life easier. When he was in the hospitable, I helped my mother make the ultimate decision to remove all life assistance because that's what he asked for. That's never easy, but I was comfortable with it because that's what he wanted. We honored every one of his demands and requests and I would like to think that I helped him to be more comfortable his last couple of years. His death was not tragic. It was very sad and I miss him like crazy, but it was not tragic. He lived a good life. He loved and was loved in return.
The death of my marriage and the death of my father were similar because I knew that I had done everything humanly possible to make things work before they ended. I gave my all to my marriage and I gave my all to my father's final years. I loved my ex-husband and gave effort to my marriage. I loved my father and treated him with love and compassion until the very end. The knowledge that I have no regrets makes the grief a little easier to bear. My conscience is clear, so grief is all that I deal with. I think that sometimes dealing with regrets is the most difficult part of coping with loss.

Post 22 - APA in Doc 2

I don't know why APA format seems so difficult sometimes. Maybe it's because different professors are particular about different parts of the formatting. Maybe it's because there really is no rhyme or reason to the set-up of the format. Personally I learn a concept well when I can understand WHY I am required to do something. If I can't understand the why of it, then I have a hard time remembering the different steps required for the completion of the task. Since we have all been doingAPA format at school for at least several semesters, I would think that writing a paper in APA Format would be easy by now. Even I messed up the formatting on Doc 2 though!