Part 4: To A Stranger

   I think that Walt Whitman is talking about a lover but I can't really tell whether its a boy or a girl, since he was known for being attracted to both male and females. I personally think it can be boy from the past, someone he used to care about but couldn't really open up to so he used his imagination.
   The very beginning says " Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you, You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me as of a dream,). This line to me means that a passing stranger isn't actually a passing stranger but it was someone that Walt knew, he wanted to get to know more and this person comes in his dreams and thoughts. It isn't clear that this poem is about a girl or a boy but I feel that the poem is secretive so it can be a boy. Back in his day being bisexual maybe wasn't a choice so he had to hide it, but share it without the clear message being read.
   The next lines supporting my thoughts are,  " I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become not yours only nor left my body mine only, You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh as we pass." Walt probably couldn't express himself towards his lover back then because it would be considered wrong, so instead of receiving the pleasure of love the way a man and woman would he got it just by the look of this boy's eyes, face and body when he saw him.
   One of the last lines are " I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or wake at night alone," this line can also explain why this poem would be more about a boy than a girl. If Walt couldn't make conversation with this person, he could at least think about him when he is alone at night.
   Last is my connection to the part that says " I am to think of you when I sit alone or wake at night alone," this reminds of me and how before I go to sleep I think about the guy I like all the time even when I'm alone. It helps me sleep honestly and calms me down, that one person can have so much impact on your mind.

Charles bukowski- Change or Stay?

   If I were Charles Bukowski I would stay the way I am, reading his poetry you could only imagine the life he had lived. His life contained of insecurity, booze, whores and cheap hotels. That is how it is described in his poem "How Is Heart."

   Charles has been through a lot, but lets say he did improve on his lifestyle, got a decent job, lived in a nice apartment and had food and money, it wouldn't make him the poet he is known for today. The poet he is known for is the one who stayed content with his life. If he wasn't poor, wasn't finding himself waking up in cheap hotels or next to a prostitute he wouldn't have wrote about it and gotten to the place he is now where people look up to him as an American poet. His writing also made him famous and his writing was mainly about alcohol, relationships with women and work.

   In my personal life I can relate to this poem in two ways. The first way is insecurity, in the last verse of the poem it is written " and to walk across the floor to an old dresser with a cracked mirror- see myself, ugly, grinning at it all." I have a lot of insecurities and looking in the mirror makes everything worse. No one is perfect and I think we all have to accept the way we look and if it is possible to change something then you can put your mind to it but if you can't then you have to just learn to live with it. Charles felt he was ugly, I feel like that too sometimes about my body but I just have to accept it or do something. The second way I relate to this poem is difficulties I've been through. In last line which reads, " What matters most is how well you walk through the fire." As I mentioned in the comment section, I can relate to this line because I have myself not gone through what Charles has gone through, but something different. I think every human being has gone through situations experiencing excruciating pain mentally and physically but they've made it through the fire. Its like the saying "I've been through hell," but you made it. I have gone through the fire is also an example of an idiom. The line means to go through danger or difficulties. An example of difficulty I've gone through is bullying. I've done things I'm not proud of, on the Internet and I've gotten bullied for it for almost two years in high school. I've made it though on my own and my friends have helped me along the way. I think without whatever happened, I wouldn't be as strong as I am today, which makes me who I am today...

   More reasons to which why Charles should stay content, or we would may have not known a Charles Bukowski.

Tattoo

   If I were to get a symbolic tattoo of any kind on my body permanently inked, I would get this infinity sign with my grandmothers signature on the loop of it. I would get this tattoo with her signature on it because she means a lot to me, she passed away on March 3rd 2006 because of breast cancer. I only saw her twice in my lifetime when I was young and each year I did visit her I spent almost two months with her. She was an amazing woman, she took care of 6 kids and all of their kids who are my cousins, and she was the strongest woman I knew. I still have vivid memories of her and me although I wish we shared more. She did a lot of things and sacrifices for me and my brother which we really appreciate. I want to thank her in a way by inking this tattoo on my back. I never got to go to her funeral so I want to do this for her.

   An infinity symbol and the word infinity means a lot of things, here are a couple definition from different sources:
1.The word Infinity:  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Infinity+symbol
1. The quality or condition of being infinite.
2. Unbounded space, time or quantity.
3. An indefinitely large number or amount.

2. Infinity symbol: 
Google definition- 

1. Infinity (symbol: ∞) is an abstract concept describing something without any limit and is relevant in a number of fields, predominantly mathematics and physics.
2. 3. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/infinity
3. 4. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/infinity
4. These links are also sources I used for my research.
5. The word infinity in general means the quality or state of endlessness or having no limits in terms of time or space. In math infinity is a "numberless" number and is symbolized by the lemniscate which looks like the number 8 written sideways. This symbol for infinity was first used in the 1600's by a  mathematician named John Wallis. I am linking this symbol to my tattoo because my grandma will be with me forever looking over me and this tattoo will forever be on my body, bounding me and her forever. The infinity sign is also very small and through the loop will be her initials in capital handwriting which are C.K.B. I would get this tattoo on my left shoulder because it feels right to me. I write with my left and it would feel more powerful to me. Another reason why I chose this symbol is because it is small, which I want my tattoo to be like. If people see my tattoo I hope they would understand the basic meaning of the infinity symbol which most people do, and see that I have initials of someone that meant so much to me I got a tattoo. I would say for sure that my values are covered in this tattoo especially the main one which is love. This is not an EXACT accuracy of my tattoo, but it is something like this I want in black ink. 
   

   
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What do you have in English 10?

When my parents ask me for my mark or how I am doing, I'm going to respond by saying we do our work on our blogs and show them what a blog is and how it is connected to edmodo. I will explain that all of our assignments are posted on edmodo by Mr.Neuf and he posts the due date on the site, once I finish the assignment I post it on my blog and turn it in on edmodo. I will also tell them they can access edmodo and my blog to see my work on how I'm doing on the assignments. They will also see that we have a group page on edmodo and how we interact by commenting on each other's work, for example, commenting on someone's blog by saying they could have done something better or they did something really good. By commenting on blogs we learn a lot from each other and it is easy to do. When I look at my work with my parents they will know how I am doing by my writing skills, ideas, if I hand in assignments on edmodo on time and editing my posts from older assignments to make them better. These are also ways I will put in effort and improve on my blog.
Edmodo group code: 24qpst 

My blog link: http://sahota786.blogspot.ca/?m=1

Edmodo page: https://www.edmodo.com/home#/group?id=10500245 

Extended Metaphor

   My extended metaphor example is a song by Nas called I gave you power. In this song, Nas is rapping about himself as if he is a gun using simile and comparison along with extended metaphor, he also raps about all the traits him and the gun have.
Example:
[Verse 1]
I seen some cold nights and bloody days
They grab me and bullets spray
They use me wrong so I sing this song til this day
My body is cold steel for real
I was made to kill, that's why they keep me concealed
Under car seats they sneak me in clubs
Been in the hands of mad thugs
They feed me when they load me with mad slugs
Seventeen precisely, one in my head
They call me Desert Eagle, semi-auto with lead
I'm seven inches four pounds, been through so many towns
Ohio to Little Rock to Canarsie, living harshly
Beat up and battered they pull me out
I watch as n****s scattered, making me kill
But what I feel it never mattered
When I'm empty I'm quiet, finding myself fiending to be fired
A broken safety, n****s place me in shelves
Under beds so I beg for my next owner to be a thoroughbred
Keep me full up with hollow heads
In verse one Nas raps " I see some cold nights and bloody days, they grab me and bullets spray, they use me so wrong so I sing this song til this day." He fits into this part because it means that in his life he has seen some cold nights and bloody days referring to actual fighting as the gun and life he has experienced. The next line he raps, "My body is cold steel for real." The gun is not the only metaphor he uses but he refers to the thick and cold steel for his skin. The third part he raps " I was made to kill, that's why they keep me concealed, under car seats they sneak me in clubs, been in the hands of mad thugs." In this line he talks about the gun and how it is a weapon that is made to take someones life and how guns are hidden since people do not have them out in the open. Guns can be hidden under car seats, pockets and even tucked into pants which makes it easier to sneak into places. The last line means that guns have been in the hands of violent and mad gangsters. The fourth line he says "They feed me when they load me with mad slugs." He means loading the gun with bullets, feeding it with trade and violence. If you skip a few lines and go to the line that says " They pull me out I watch as n****s scattered, making me but what I feel never mattered." Nas is describing himself as the gun and people run away from him even though he does not want to kill he has no say either way, like a gun has no feelings. The next line is " When I'm empty I'm quiet finding myself fiending to be fired." An empty gun does not make noise when the trigger is pulled and fired, he also uses personification of an empty gun wanting to be fired as himself looking for conflict or trouble if there isn't any. The last line he ends of the verse by saying, " A broken safety, n****s place me in shelves, under beds so I beg for my next owner to be a thoroughbred, keep me full up with hollow heads." The gun has no safety space, meaning the safety of people around the gun is also broken and shelves are spots where guns are usually hidden or put in place. To be official thoroughly bred for killing and always keep the gun loaded and ready to go, as in Nas himself. Hollow refers to hollow bullets, that wound more than original bullets. Here is the full song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TllbGtempQ4

Myers Briggs Personality Test.

   For my Myers Briggs Test result I got ISTP and ISTP's are "craftsman" type of people. They are more introverted than extroverted, they use their senses more than their intuition, think more than feel and are more perceiving than judging. I strongly agree with these traits. There are only 6% of people who are ISTP's! They have an adventuresome spirit as in being usually fearless. They are also independent usually doing their own thing. I agree with having an adventuresome spirit if I had the chance to sky dive or try surfing I would go for it! But I would not be fearless about EVERYTHING. I also agree that I am independent I can make my own decisions and I do not believe in following rules or regulations. One part I strongly agree is on not having the present impression of constant activity or having company. It is true in most situations if I do not have anyone by my side I can be independent and do not mind it. Some things I found way off are being a "walking encyclopedia" of technical information meaning mechanical and engineering things, I do not agree with that at all. A couple other ISTP facts I agree on myself is using my body as tool and using the easiest route to completing a task or job. Whenever I have to get things done I always take the easy way to do it. One more thing I agree on is not wasting time, I can not waste time on unnecessary things or distractions and I always have to make time for important tasks.
   Occupations that suit me are dental hygienist, sales representative, entrepreneur, detective, carpenter and a paramedic. I got really happy when I got dental hygienist as my occupation because that is my career path I want to get into! In planning class I knew I wanted something in the medical field and it was going to be a dentist.
   Some famous people of my combo traits are Bruce Lee, Tom Cruise, Burt Reynolds and Zachary Taylor which is pretty awesome to find out!
   By doing a test like this you find out a lot about yourself some things that you probably already knew and other things that you did not know. For example I already knew some of the traits about myself but other traits I discovered is that I am more introverted than extroverted. I thought the compete opposite but when I think about it it is kind of in the middle of the scale, but it is true. You should not only take a test once about yourself because you can always change. You should keep taking it you never know your results can change or remain the same!

Being a teenager!

   Being a teenager very complicated, from school to our parents and friends. In my last english post I wrote a lot about how it is so hard and everyone is pressuring you but now that I am in grade 11 I see things in a completely different way, and going to India for two months is a big part of that. I missed english but in a way it was worth it because I learned my values and more about myself. One of those things are  finding out that unlike most people there I have a lot to appreciate for, my education, friends, lifestyle and just the little things that matter and becoming more independent. So no, being a teenager does not really suck anymore for me, as you get older you get wiser and tone things down a bit in your life. In grade 10 I was so worried about almost everything like my career, my parents' opinions, school and friends... To be honest I only worry about my career I do not let the extra things take a hold of my head and explode, the more you actually care and put your focus on things the more easier it will be and that is the strategy I use to get things done. 

   My parents are more calm now too, they have become more accepting in what I decide and they do not pressure me. They have realized that I am graduating next year so I can make some smart decisions by myself and they have trust in me which I am so thankful for because last year it was the complete opposite! They pressured me to figure out my life and my whole future when I was only 14. It was scary. I thank them now for being so chill!

When it comes to school and classes I take things okay, I do not rush myself and let my teachers pressure me I work with focus and grade 11 and 12 are honesty easier even though I have to retake 3 grade 10 classes and because of the strike we did not get summer school I tried not to worry so much, I kept my head up and figured my schedule out. The best part of school is your friends and the support you get, you should take advantage of it because once you graduate you can not hold things off and expect your boss or teacher to do things late and be lazy. The worst part is all the people you have to deal with sometimes, like fake friends you have to look out for yourself. School is a fun place if your a positive person and show up! 

   As a teenager I've always wanted a job even though my parents do not want me to work because I still have school  I think saving up and working is good experience to have and I am really committed! I always get enough sleep but changing my scheduale once school started was really hard. Now I go to sleep at 9 or even 8 because I am use to it now and sleep plays a huge role on how you function the next day, so it is important that you get it. 

   When it comes to my friends I have only a couple close ones. I do not mess with fake people that do not want to be in my life so I cut them off, you can easily notice who wants to be in your life and who wants to just use you for something.  When your older your friends will not be the same friends you had in grade 8, I was friends with a lot of people and now I  only stick to a few true people. In highschool friendships get complicated and by the time you graduate you will most likely stay in touch with only two close friends. I am not the type of person to have friends with me all the time to go to the bathroom, locker, or in class. I do not mind being alone whatsoever. After graduation you are mostl likely to be by yourself most of the time anyways. Being in grade 11 also made me realize all my friends and that they have my back no matter what and they know I have theirs.  

   So far being a teen is okay for me! 

   

My Experiences with English

   My experiences with english are a lot from boring assignments to songs and books, it's a very interesting subject. I enjoy english on my own terms as in  reading my choice of books instead of reading Shakespeare or some play that I do not even understand in class because the english way back in that time was way too complicated as in now it has become more modern along with music and movies, thank god for that or it would have taken me twice as long to understand everything than I do now! 

   When it comes to music english plays a big role in it, especially rap. All the rappers I listen to always rap and rhyme using similes and metaphors about how they never have been to school or they dropped out and their lifestyle but not all of it is true. For example "2pac" and "biggie" claim they are drop outs, they never went to school and hated it but they did go to college and university they just do not talk about it because it does not fit their "hardcore" and "thug" personality that they present in their music. No one will listen to music that will talk  about going to school and graduating with a masters degree because it will not look or sound cool in rap music. These rappers actually did study english and study rhyme which is why they are so famous. 

   I thank english for rhymes because of the music I listen to, literature for all the stories I read non-fiction and fiction and for all the movies I watch!