This is English Class?

When starting English 111 I was in total and complete dread based of my previous experiences in English. Not really having any expectations other then to improve my writing and English 11 is required for my degree I signed up for my first college English class. I was pleasantly surprised at the type of work Paul let us use our creative skills in our writing and I actually came to like English a whole lot more than I used too. I learned more than I thought I would based on first impressions and am thank full that i had Paul as an Instructor. Some of the most interesting things we did in class and that I learned in class occurred when we had the discussion after watching the Movie sicko. In this discussion I learned that words written down can spoken and printed can have far reaching effects, all based on the power of presentation and the way that you present your argument. I also learned a lot from the multitude of short video clips that Paul had us watch as one of our homework assignments, all were very eye opening, specifically the poem that was read from top to bottom that sounded horribly negative, but when read from bottom to top, was a complete turn around from the tone that was said when read from top to bottom.
There are some recommendations that I would make to Paul concerning, the syllabus and the multitude of changes that occurred to it. This was extremely hard for someone taking a full load of classes to keep up with and I do recommend that when the syllabus is put out it isint changed, a one time revision is cool; but anymore than that its hard to keep on the same page as Paul. With this being said i would also recommend a homework assignment sheet, with names of assignments on the paper and when they are due.

This all being said I would still highly recommend Paul as a English Professor. I learned without even knowing it, and the ways in which you learn are very eye opening and in my opinion make you want to learn more. I would take note that the work although not hard, does take up considerable time. There is no way you can expect to be a procrastinator and complete most of the assignments on time. So be prepared when taking pauls class that there is a hefty amount of time, spent typing on a keyboard for this class. My situation in class was a bit different than most of my fellow students, as i missed 6 weeks of class, due to traveling for work. This being said Paul gave me more than ample time to make up my work, and get it turned in before the end of the course. With this being said, the fact that you cannot miss one single assignment, is hard to comprehend. For example if you have 10 assignments and have all A's on them, and forget to turn in one paper you fail the class. There is zero room for any leeway on this. To a certain extent I understand this but at the same time to a point I don't. If a student is not willing to do an assignment for whatever reason, simply deduct the points and assign them a grade.
I would like to finally add that Paul opened my eyes to a lot of things that I never realized, and that even though I write like I talk, you can still put that into proper and correct English and even MLA format. Something that before stepping into his class I didn't think was really possible. Overall I would highly recommend Paul for any of the classes he teaches and I hope you learn as much as I have.

Living the High Life

My favorite vacation occurred while I was stationed aboard the USS George Washington (CVN-73), She is a United States Navy Nimitz Class carrier. During our regularly scheduled 6 month deployment between the years 1999 & 2000, we made numerous port visits to foreign ports of call, to include our very first stop in Antalya Turkey. This was the time I learned what living the "High Life" was all about.

The port visit started out like any other, long liberty lines in the hangar bay to get on a liberty boat headed to shore. The long lines and guys wearing way too much cologne to hide the locker and berthing smell impregnated in there clothes. Combine that with the 95+ degree weather didn’t make standing in line for 4 hours wearing the required pants and collared shirt any more bearable. After we finally went down the ladder wells and boarded the liberty boat we headed to shore to check into the hotel and head out from there.

After checking into the Hilton we browsed the streets of Antalya visiting the markets, and window shopping for trinkets and souvenirs. We were doing this for a while and needed to fulfill the rumbling comming from our stomachs. To our delight we found awesome mom and pop shop to eat at and enjoyed some rather good Mediterranean cuisine. After we had our fill, we decided to go back to the hotel drop of our purchases and head to the local beach on the Mediterranean. The beach was roughly a mile walk from the hotel according to the guy working the front desk. Being that we were in the mood to party we purchased some cheap vodka from the hotel store, but to our dismay they had no mixers to go with it. So on the way to the beach we stopped at a corner store hopeful that we would be able to pick up some orange juice to mix with the vodka. To our dismay there was no orange juice so we settled for some orange Fanta soda.

On the way to the beach I remember feeling like I was back in High School, sneaking some booze to a party where there was going to be none, or into the local theater back in Wisconsin. So outside the corner store right on the street we mixed our vodka and orange Fanta and started our walk. When we got to the beach we came upon quite a shocker when we noticed there was no sand on the beach. We instead were greeted by a beach full of river rocks, which I am sure you can imagine are not very fun to walk or sunbathe on. So at the beach we were enjoying the nice water the scenery around us the locals, and getting more and more frustrated with the rocks, what we simple came to call torture later on. It was a fairly hot day 90 degrees or so, and the Vodka/Fanta combination was going down all too easy, and by roughly 2pm we were all completely hammered. After one of us finally came to this revelation we decided it would be a good time to go back to the the hotel, in fear of passing out on the beach and getting cooked by the sun. So we gathered our things and made the "mile" trek back to the Hotel. Now somewhere between the beach and the hotel we got lost more than a few times. Due to this really weird chain of events it took us 3 times as long to walk back to the hotel as it did to get to the beach. When we got to the hotel we decided to get a shower and a nap and head out later to get something to eat and enjoy the nightlife.

We had learned from some locals while we were at the beach about there preferred hot spots to go. So we took there advice and headed out later in the evening around 11pm or so. We bounced from one hot spot to the other and were getting upset as everywhere we went all we saw was fellow sailors from the ship. Believe me after a month or so at sea the last thing you want to see is a bunch of sailors from your ship. So off we went again to the next club and being disappointed; again, we hailed a taxi, on the busy and congested downtown streets of Antalya we asked the cab driver who spoke decent English for the "locals" hot spot when the ships were in port. Well the cab driver started laughing and saying it was in an area that was usually off limits to the sailors that came to port. We all agreed that it was worth the risk so off we went. Whizzing through the streets of downtown I realized that the cab driver had some deft skill at maneuvering his cab at breakneck speed through downtown congestion. Now when i say downtown congestion think of doing 50-60 miles per hour between parked cars with literally inches of room on either side. It was then I noticed the driving shoes and gloves extra gauges, one of which said Boost on it (a boost gauge is a measurement of compressed air into an engine from a turbo or supercharger) and I realized this cab driver wasn’t driving for the fair he was driving because he enjoyed it. This was quite evident from the white nuckles and literal silence with the exception of squealing tires, and the exhaust note of the cab itself, the sick devilish laugh the cab driver had almost the entire time we were on the way there only confirmed this even more. When we got to the club the cab driver (speed racer as we nicknamed him) talked to the Bouncer for us, and arranged for us to get inside and said he would be back at 4am to pick us up, I gave him a nice tip, and paid for the cab fair back to the hotel in advance. I realize there was only a 50/50 of him coming back but he seamed cool enough and shook my hand and hopped in his cab and speed off like he was leaving pit lane at a Formula One or NASCAR Race.

So into the club we went and to my surprise we were rather early based of the thin crowd of people. Not wanting to wast anymore time and have some fun I ordered a local brew, as I was sipping my beer and scanning the club and saw everyone drinking this crazy blue and silver can. I asked the bartender what it was and he said it was an energy drink and asked me if I wanted one. I looked at the can and read the English said and it said “Red Bull” I had never heard of it before but when I tasted it I immediately liked it. So I asked him what you mixed it with and he said Jaegermeister or vodka, and me being a Jaeger fan ordered 5 of them for myself and my buddies. The bartender poured 5 Jaeger shots and filled 5 glasses with red bull. I asked him in ignorance what the deuce is up with this? He then poured one for himself and showed us that you drop the shot in the glass and slam it down. So we all followed his lead and proceeded to do 5 or 6 of these, getting us completely hyper and wasted at the same time. I switched up to Red Bull and vodkas at this point and proceeded to maintain this drunken energized state I was in. Before I realized it the club was Jam packed with locals and I was out on the dance floor doing my best to attempt dancing to Rave Euro type dance music.

We were having a good old time and before I realized it I was drenched in sweat and my buzz was gone. Chatting with some locals on the side of the dance floor since at this point I had to take a break from the very friendly women that were giving my 22 year old body a run for its money. A waitress showed up with some interesting shots, to this day I don’t know what they were but, not wanting to be rude I took the shot, and almost instantly went back to that crazy drunken energized state which put me at a loss for words to this day. After doing a few more shots with these locals we noticed a lone girl who had moved to the center of the dance floor and was dancing at half the beat. We watched as she moved in total rhythm to the beat but at half the speed, it took me a while in my drunken state to realize that she was doing a traditional Turkish belly dance, in the middle of the dance floor! Several would be suitors attempted to garner her attention and were quickly shut down by her, as she was perfectly content to dance alone. In my utter amazement at what I was watching, and jaw still laying on the floor I lost track of time. Soon the cab driver keeping his word, showed up and helped me round up my friends. Most of them were not to happy as they were attempting to swoon some prospects into coming back to the hotel with them to continue the party.

So we attempted to leave the club and apparently while in there pissed off some of the locals who had some not so pleasant words for us. Well being the drunken sailors that we were we tossed more than a few, shall i say unpleasantries right back. Ten before I knew it there was a roayl rumble commencing right next to speed racers cab Some of the finer details are still kind of vague, but after landing a few solid shots to the side of some guys head and cold cocking some other guy in the jaw. I saw speed racer the cabbie body slam some guy on the stone sidewalk, let i was witnessing a WWF match. At this point everyone seamed to just stop as speed racers victim lay motionless and moaning on the ground. Not wasting anytime my friends and I all hurriedly jumped in the cab and held on as speed racer sped off before the local police arrived.

We went to the hotel and paid speed racer the cabbie again mainly for getting our back outside of the club, and getting us back to the hotel from the club. Speed racer thanked us repeatedly and hopped in his cab and sped off. Outside the hotel we were all talking about the events of the night and the ones that just took place, to my shock no one was the worse for wear with the exception of a few fat lips. We all went inside to sleep the Red Bull and Vodka off, and as I lay there in bed I couldn’t help but think, now this is living the High Life.