My thoughts on the media essays

  I found the essays interesting. I found it fascinating someone putting that much time and research into Lady Gaga. I find it a bit of a stretch thinking Lady Gaga is a product of the Illuminati, but nevertheless it was fun to read about how the music video bad romance has messages that would lead you to believe that. I find the essay itself to be a bit on the over analyzing side. It comes off at times as a conspiracy paper at times. The essay over all was worth reading, I never notice those images or messages in the video.

  The Spongebob- Squarpants essay was my favorite mainly due to the fact it talked about my favorite episode from the series. I completely agreed with it in a lot of ways. Especially the fact that to many kids shows talk down to kids and Spongebob never doing that may have been why the show was so successful. I always like when kids shows are able to sneak in adult jokes or messages that older audiences can pick up. The essay itself didn't really tell me anything I already didn't know about the episode. I still found it a fun read because it reassured me I am not the only was analyzing Spongbob episodes after I watch them.
  
   Reading these essays sowed me exactly, what it is I should be aiming for when writing my media essay. How I need to be very precise on what I am writing about.      

Memoir Reflections

   I have just read the memoir "Click.Hello?" by Rikki Wilchins. Even though this is a short memoir; Rikki makes his point very clear. Even though this memoir just shows us Rikki having trouble getting his license changed to say his sex is female, but it encompasses how life will be for Rikki  now that he has had this sex changed. The memoir even showed me just how arrogant people can be when they first hear someone is a transsexual.

   I also read  "My Mother Never Worked." by Smith-Yackel. This memoir is about Smith-Yackel on the phone with the social security office trying to claim a death benefit that should have been left by her mother Marhta Ruth Smith, as the social security office looks up her information. Smith recalls all the things her mother went through, Martha Ruth Smith raised almost a dozen children, worked on farms day in and day out, even in her retirement years life was not easy for her, as she became crippled from the waist down. Smith-Yackel is told by the government her mother is not entitled to any benefits due to the fact she never worked.

   I do have a better understanding of how memoirs works and how you can make a point without having to state it. For instance no where in "My Mother Never Worked." does Smith-Yackel state my mother was a hard worker but the government disagrees. She gives us in vivid detail of all the things her mother did in life, for we can have that thought by the end of it. I will definitely be using these memoirs as a reference when writing my paper.   

Memoir

There I was sitting there in the final table of a poker tournament staring at my opponent trying to look calm as if I had no care in the world, but I was scared inside I had a lot at stake. I sat there thinking to myself, why did I have to take it this far, why did I have to let my gambling addiction get the best of me, how will I tell her; I lost her money that she needed to buy her house? How did I put myself in this situation?

I would have to say my love of poker started just two years ago. I remember I was at a friend's house with a few other buddies when they wanted to play poker. I at the time never tried to play poker just didn't seem like my kind of game, but my friends insisted on me learning the game. The particular poker game I was learning is called Texas hold'em. Hold'em seems to be a simple game but it really is a complex game. You don't just play your cards you have to play your opponents cards; what I mean by that is you have to really get in there head make them think you have the best hand this is all done by your body language at the table, how you handle yourself, the way you talk, how you bet, how you grab your chips everything you do at the table matters when playing Texas hold'em. By the end of the night I lost all my money to my friends but I learned the fundamentals of poker that night.  I would make poker a new hobby of mine.

            A few months later, I was watching TV just flipping through stations when I came across a Texas Hold’em tournament. A Texas Hold’em tournament is a tournament were hundreds of people play poker until one person is left standing. The prize can be worth millions all depending on how much money each person puts in to play in the tournament. It was exciting to me to see these players throwing three hundred thousand dollars on the table as if it were nothing.  I started to watch these poker tournaments not just for entertainment but as a study guide to improve the way I played. Over the course of a few weeks my hobby of poker became an obsession.  I was playing poker everyday either online or with friends. I always found ways to improve the way I played.

            About six months later I took the next step which is playing at the casinos. I’ve gone to casinos before, but just to play the slots and blackjack never spending more than sixty dollars.  Now I came to play for real money. I walked in that poker room feeling so confident as if I already had won their money. I joined one-two Texas Hold’em you have to put down a minimum of one hundred dollars. This is very low stakes poker, so I put my money down and went to the table and played a few hands within a few hours I was up five hundred and sixty dollars. I left that casino that night feeling so good about myself. My training had paid off; I loved the feeling of winning money. Never have I had an addiction to anything, but I finally found something I could get addicted to I just never would have guessed it would have been gambling.

            Another few weeks go by. I get a call from my mother asking me for a favor. “Honey I just go my tax return and got four-thousand back from the government!” my mom yelling on the phone with excitement.

“That’s great; did you call just to tell me that?”

“Well you know how I’ve wanted to buy a house for a long time and with this money I could do it”  

“So I am going to take a guess and say; since you don’t have a bank account you want me to put it in mine until you find a house and need the money”

“Would you mind you know how I’ve been with money in the past; I need the money kept away from me until I actually need it”

“Yea it’s no big deal just call me when you need the money” With four thousand dollars in my bank, I could now play higher stake games of poker. I should have been really thinking of the risks involve and how my mother trusted me enough to keep her money safe, but I was so confident in the way I played, I knew I could turn that four-thousand to eight in a short amount of time.

            I went back to the casino and joined a poker game where the stakes were five-ten that meant you had to put at least seven-hundred dollars minimum one-thousand max. I being so confident put in one-thousand; within two hours I lost it all. Never have I’ve felt so low in my life losing that much money in a short amount of time. I did all the right moves, made all the right calls, but I just kept losing my money. I paced outside the poker room thinking if I should just cut my losses and leave, but I’ve lost one-thousand dollars that really belong to my mother; I had to win it back. I decided to take out another thousand just to win another thousand for I could break even. I was thinking this time will be different, this time I won’t make any mistakes, and I will win back that money. Same turn out I lost another thousand. I just made the biggest mistake of my life and realizing how bad my addiction to gambling has become.

            I came to the conclusion that my mother could take a year or more to find a house she likes or can afford, I make about three-hundred a week at my job, so I will just make that money back and my mother won’t ever have to know what I did.  That plan in a way back fired as in a few weeks she called me. “I’ve found the house I always wanted. I will need that money soon”

“Are you sure about that; I mean I don’t want you buying any houses you can’t afford”

“I can afford this with my 401k and the money you’re holding on for me I am set my agent is just setting up the paper work; just letting you know I will need that money soon”

“Ok, when exactly do you think you will need the money?”

“Very soon, why are you asking is my money ok”

“Yea its fine I was just curious”

“Thanks honey, I think that money would have been gone by now if I had kept it” I didn’t have the heart to tell her I lost some of her money and I would need another five or six weeks to make up the money. I had to make a two-thousand dollars at least and fast.

            I went back to the only place I knew where you can make that kind of money that fast. I looked up the poker schedule at the casino and saw they were going to have a tournament for about one hundred players the next day. The buy in was eighty bucks and first place was just about two-thousand; I had to take a risk just knowing if I didn’t come up with this money my mom was going to have to put her dream on hold and it would have been because of me and my addiction.

            The next day came and I signed up for that poker tournament. I would have to best ninety-nine other people to get first place. I played hours beyond hours of poker but I was still hanging in there and before I knew it there was only nine of us left, from there I played very patiently and made the right calls until there was only one other guy left. Here I was so close to winning a two-thousand dollars and I just wanted to get this over with; for I could put this money in the bank and seek some help. I made one last call to win the poker tournament. I had a whole room of people congratulating me on my victory; asking me when I was coming again; the casino offering me free nights in their hotel. I just thanked them for the money and left.

            I was lucky to make back that money I lost that almost put my mother’s dream at risk. Since then I found help to deal with my addiction and vowed to never let myself sink that low again.

First blog

   Hi there, my name is Alex Leal, sorry to Alexandria for being given this name. I'm enjoying this writing class so far. I've always enjoyed writing never really been well at it, but I enjoy it. I took a lot out of my English 1301 class, so I am hoping to get if not more out of this class.

   One of the things I struggle most with writing is my grammar, I've have gotten a better hang of it over the years but still have issues. Most people have trouble starting a paper or coming up with ideas when writing, it's the conclusions or knowing when to stop that I will find hard, every time I read my conclusion I feel as if it's not finish or I can add more to it.  
 
  Most of the writing techniques we talked about in class I've used in one way or another, but I've never heard of the cube technique before I might use it a few times this semesters. Just writing down some of the main ideas of my paper has always helped me out when it comes to brainstorming.

  I have never really blogged before, but I like the idea of us having a blog, it seems like a helpful tool to sharpen our writing skills instead of just relying on those five to seven page essays that most other English classes do.