Ben+Kowalik

Ben Kowalik I like to think that I am a good writer. According to my senior English teacher I was. Most of my teachers in high school influenced me greatly. For instance, in my sophomore year my English teacher mad us draw persuasive essay assignments out of a hat and I was stuck with against seatbelt laws, I couldn’t do anything about it but I did my research and did my three pages, this helped me to grow as a writer because it was such a difficult topic to write about. What I usually write about are things that I feel strongly about. For example, I worked on a speech for my junior English class after reading a book on all the things you don’t want to know about fast food and the book inspired me enough to the point that I felt the need to enlighten my fellow classmates. I also wrote a paper on the Sea Sheppards, an activist group that attempts to stop the hunting and killing of whales by Japanese whalers. What I would like to take from this class is a better knowledge and understanding of grammar and usage of it in essays, everyday life and potentially in a future job as a fire fighter.

__Activity 16__

1. I could tell I was coming down with the flu. -I could not stop coughing and sneezing. -I was running a really high temperature. -My whole body was sore and achy.

2. The food at the cafeteria was terrible yesterday. -The cheese pizza was very old. -The hot dogs were served with no buns. -The chips were past their expiration date.

3. I had car problems recently. -My engine, for some reason, would not start. -The car started leaking transmission fluid -My brand new tire popped.

4. When your money gets tight, there are several ways to economize. -Start shopping for generic products -buy regular gas, not premium -eat hamburg instead of steak

5. Some people have dangerous driving habits -hitting people who flip them the bird -running from police -driving without a steering wheel

Assignment #1 page. 80 I could tell that I was coming down with the flu. Firstly, a couple days ago my girlfriend desperately wanted to come over, although she was getting sick, I obliged. I attempted to keep as far away from her as possible but as soon as she noticed this was happening, she was fuming with anger, so I gave her a quick kiss and said I was sorry. The next I noticed was that night when I kept waking up to get sick, and throughout the night it only seemed to get worse until there was nothing left to hurl and I could finally get some rest. The last thing that lead me to suspect I had the flu was that next morning I woke up in a pool of sweat so I took my temperature and discovered I was running a one hundred and two degree temperature which finally lead me to believe that I had the flu.

Assignment #3 page.82 When stress bothers me the most it is mostly over school. During my senior year of high school I was able to slack off and be stressed because I had worked my butt of for the simple fact that I would be able to slack off during my senior year. To graduate all I had to do was pass English and gym so I focused on English and passed it with flying colors because gym really isn’t any sort of challenge. But now that I’m in my first year of college I have to start all over again so now there’s more stress than I’ve had in two years. All the classes I’m taking are hard and it’s very important that I pass them so I can move on to my career. But I just see things as if I was still in high school, I’m a freshman again and I have to work my butt of to reach senior year which to me will be the rest of my easy life.

**__Writing Portfolio__**

Ben Kowalik Compare and Contrast

Boys vs. Girls There are two kinds of eaters in the world. One can be described as a fierce, untamed beast, otherwise known as teenage boys. The other can be summed up into a small, dainty being better known as teenage girls. Teenage boys, like myself, enjoy eating everything in sight. Even though their mothers complain that there is no food left in the house the day after they went shopping, they’ll continue to feed until their desires are met. However, this goal is unobtainable. Even if the male teenager says they are full, within the next five to ten minutes they will be hungry. On the other hand, teenage girls are completely the opposite. Most teenage girls are obsessed with looking good and maintaining their “shape.” Girls who love to obsess over their bodies basically eat just enough to survive and function normally. Or they become totally drastic and become anorexic or bulimic. But, when it comes right down to it the differences between teenage boys and girls are drastic in a general sense of things, however in my opinion the most obvious difference is the way they eat.

en Kowalik Compare and Contrast

Changes When I was in middle school I was surrounded by the people that cared most about me, my friends. I had never met anyone like them and all of us together were inseparable. But, times changed and we all transitioned into high school and one of us would move away, then the next one would join the military, then another was accepted to a school far away. Soon I found me asking myself what happened. How did I get to be so alone? We were always inseparable. So in my perfect world I would bring myself back to middle school where there was little stress and not a care in the world. We would all hang out and just say “Seriously dude” all the time just like we used to. We would get into trouble together and take out the yearbook and debate on which girl was the hottest. I miss those days but we all had to move on to bigger and better things back in the real world. We all still keep in touch and are planning to have one last hoorah before we really won’t be able too because of our new obligations. But, in my perfect world I still can see all of us just sitting around the lunch table laughing till we cry.

Ben Kowalik Group Essay

It is Coming The end of the world is an interesting subject to ponder. To be completely honest it’s truly a miracle we are still all here. There are so many ways that the world can end or how life could cease to exist on planet Earth. There are potentially thousands of different ways it could end. For example, a simple asteroid impact, with a big asteroid impact, say one about five miles wide, it won’t matter where it would land on Earth it would cause major extinctions, such as the one that killed the dinosaurs (allegedly). Also, there is always the chance of global war. Between the United States and Russia we control roughly 19,000 active nuclear warheads. Even if nuclear war seems unlikely today there is always the possibility of an accidental nuclear exchange, and with genetic engineering taking place it could in time be possible to create an ethnic biological weapon effecting one primary group. Furthermore, my all time favorite, someone wakes up and realizes it was all a dream. Just as empty space might not be the true, the most stable form of the vacuum, what we call reality might not even be true, the most stable form of existence. For example, a philosopher named Chuang Tzu dreams he is a butterfly with no awareness of his existence as a person. When he wakes up he asks himself, "Was I Chuang Tzu who dreamt about being a butterfly, or am I now a butterfly who dreams about being Chuang Tzu.” So when you really sit down and think how easy it would be for reality to cease existence and how we’ve managed to go on so long it’s nothing short of a miracle. It really just goes to show you that you shouldn’t waste on minute of your life because it could be your last.

Ben Kowalik Definition Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out Television addicts are people who will watch all the programs they can, for as long as they can, without doing anything else. TV addicts, first of all, will watch anything on the tube, no matter how bad it is. They are so drawn to the TV that the show they want to watch may be on two hours from that point but will still sit in front of the TV and wait for their show to come on. In addition, addicts watch more hours of TV than normal people do. An average person watches at least four hours of TV a day. Now, TV addicts can potentially double that in a day. So in a sixty-five year life span that TV addict has spent eighteen years watching TV. Finally, addicts feel that TV is more important than other people or any other activities that might be going on. For example, a TV addict could potentially give up a Saturday night out with friends just to watch his favorite show, or maybe their addiction is so bad that it could interfere with education, relationships, or even their career. Television addicts are ruining their lives through their lack of motivation to do anything else besides watch TV if their not careful that TV could end up being the only friend they have left.

Ben Kowalik Definition Jesse When I think of the word clown I think of my friend Jesse. He was never that greatest student in school but he was by far the funniest. He always wore these tight girl pants for some reason and when he was kicked out of class one day for some reason he began to do this hilarious dance just out of the eye line of the teacher. I also remember another time in gym class a kid that was basically a “douche” completely missed a swipe at the volleyball and he screamed out “Oh my God, you suck at every sport.” (more of a had to be there kind of thing). My last memory I had with him was that of laughter and fun. He was trying to get this girls number so he made a deal with the girl that for every crazy thing he did that night he would get one digit of the whole number. He did it. Jesse died about a year ago but I will always have the hilarious memories to look back on and every time I hear the word clown I think of him.

Ben Kowalik Definition Never Give Up When I hear the word persistence all that comes to mind is the thought of wanting something so badly you would do almost anything to achieve it. When you achieve the goal that you have set for yourself and worked very hard to obtain it there is no greater feeling in the world. Take for example my firefighting physical assessment, I trained for three months solid and was persistent in all that I did to achieve one goal. When I passed it I felt relief and a sense of victory that I had never felt before. At that point I knew that all my persistent training had all paid off and I knew that if I was persistent in anything I wanted in life I could achieve it.

Ben Kowalik Division/Classification OCD or No CD When it comes to keeping up with household cleaning there are many different categories of cleaners. There are people who never clean, there are people that clean on a regular basis, maybe every week or so, or there are people who are constantly cleaning. For those people that never clean their house it could only be described as a pig sty. I’d expect there to be clothing everywhere, dirty carpets, and probably just a jumbled up mess. It would probably look just like the show Hoarders. There is also the more reasonable cleaner that cleans maybe once a week. Their house is usually clean and they never let it get out of hand. Reasonable cleaners also do not obsess over their cleaning they get what needs to be done done and do not become insane when there is a piece of dust on the kitchen table. Finally, the last type of cleaner is the one that cleans constantly. These people push cleaning to a whole new level. They most likely clean every single day and become obsessed with having every spot of the entire house completely clean. I would also expect to see it interfere with their personal lives too. There are so many ways one can go about cleaning the household, you can be an obsessive cleaner, a person who never cleans, or somewhere in between.

Ben Kowalik Division/Classification Rock On The music known as rock has gone through many changes throughout its long history and has gone off in many different tangents. A few of these tangents include classic rock, punk rock, and alt rock. Classic rock is the mother of all rock. It originated in the 60’s with bands such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and The Eagles. Classic rock music gave off a sound that relied heavily on a strong loud drummer, guitarist and vocalist. Punk rock was developed between 1974 and 1976 by bands such as The Ramones, Sex Pistols and The Clash. Punk rock was usually created around anti-establishment lyrics and had fast, hard edged sound to it. Finally, alt rock or alternative rock was created in the 80’s but didn’t become popular until the 90’s. Alt rock became known through bands such as Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam. Alt rock was also something no one had ever heard before, it had a new, low key sound to it. Not like punk or classic rock whose loud drums and outrageous guitar solos made it hard to listen to but alt rock was much slower and toned down. The music of the classic rock era helped spawn many completely new types of rock that are all still thriving in their own ways today.

Ben Kowalik Division/ Classification Don’t Let Em See You Sweat When students have confidence in their classes things come so much easier. However, there are some students that have too much confidence, making their time in that class even harder than the students with little to no confidence. But, there also is the student with the right amount of confidence who is confident enough to know how to do things and never gets over confident. The first type of student is the one who goes into a class with too much confidence. This student comes into the class thinking they’ve everything under control, that they didn’t need to complete home work or that they don’t need to study. Little do they know that their over confidence will inevitably be their downfall, and it usually is. The next type of student is the one with little or no confidence, in my opinion slightly better than the overly confident one but still not the best choice. The student with little or no confidence is usually too timid and shy to express themselves and participate in class, however what makes this student better is that their lack of confidence pushes them to do all their home work and study as much as they can to try to prepare them for things to come in the class. The last type of student is the one with just the right amount of confidence. What sets this student away from the others is their drive to study and to work hard without being unconfident or overly confident. Their perfect amount of confidence lets them participate in class and learn much more easily than other students that show a lack of confidence or too much confidence. Having the right amount of confidence in a class will not only make things easier for students but will hopefully even affect their grades.

Ben Kowalik Description Living on the Mountain I could tell by looking at the room that a snowboarder lived there. Even before the door is open the large poster of the pro snowboarder gives it away. When I first walk in I immediately see three wall mounted complete snowboards, each of which are well over seven hundred dollars. The next thing I see is the bed spread which seems to be a snowy mountain with a few snowboarders conquering it. But, by far the most stand out thing about this room is all of the pictures on the wall. It seems most have be cut out from magazines and news articles and all of them feature something to do with snowboarding. Every square inch of each of the four walls is covered, not one piece of the wall is showing and it really quite admirable. It seems almost obvious that this room has perfectly matched the person’s personality that lives there.

Ben Kowalik Description What a Change My friend mike had just recently come home for the military. Before this he was always a low key kind of person, didn’t show emotion and really didn’t care about much. But, when he came back I immediately knew he was different. When he walked into his surprise party he was standing straight up with posture I’ve never seen before. And when he saw his family he immediately started to cry. Even when he gave his brother a hug they both were crying, they absolutely hated each other before this. Another thing I noticed about him was that he without a doubt put on about thirty pounds; his arms were about the size of my head. What also caught my attention was that he wants to do things now. Before he joined he would always never want to come out or be too tired to do anything but now he’s the one calling me and I’m the one too tired to do anything. Mike has changed permanently and I couldn’t be happier.

Ben Kowalik Description Clown Fish In a pet store, set atop a wooden table, there is a fish tank. The bottom of this tank is completely covered with sand. There is also an underwater plant growing and there is a rock directly next to that. In the water of this fish tank are four bright orange and white striped clown fish for three dollars each. One of which is spitting water into the face of the man that is looking inside the tank.

Ben Kowalik Description Nellie My dog Nellie is a golden retriever. She has gold fur, brown eyes, and the cutest nose I’ve ever seen on a dog. She also, because she’s getting older, has white rings around her eyes. In my opinion she is much to smart for her own good. When it comes time to clean her ears we always try to trick her into the garage but she won’t budge, so I end up carrying her. Also, if your laying on the couch and your arm is anywhere near the edge she will flip it up onto her head and make you pet her. Nellie is the best dog anyone could ask for.

Ben Kowalik Persuasive Essay

Fast Food Nation Groucho Marx once said "The secret to success is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake those, you've got it made." This is exactly how McDonalds makes their money. McDonalds has become the most popular fast food restaurant in the world and by far the most powerful. During the 1960’s in the United States there were about 1000 McDonalds. Now there are over 31000 in over 120 countries. The Golden Arches are now more recognized than the Christian cross. What’s wrong with McDonalds? Their food is linked to diseases, and you might be surprised to know what’s in it, their ads continue to target the youth of America and they are destroying nature’s natural resources and lying about it. We are now living in a fast food nation. The number one killer in this country is heart disease and the number two killer is cancer. Can you guess what McDonald’s food is linked to? Yes, their food causes the number one and two killer diseases in the United States. Another thing about the food at McDonalds is that people are becoming addicted to it. For example, the quarter -pounder is 48% water. This encourages over eating and the large amounts of sugar and sodium develops a craving in people, an addiction. Meaning more profit for McDonalds but cancer and heart disease for their customers. Nearly all McDonald’s advertising is aimed at children. Have you ever seen a McDonald’s ad that shows over weight, unhealthy kids stuffing their faces with fries and a burger? No, of course not, you have probably seen commercials that show thin, happy children having a lot of fun. These happy go lucky advertisements often trap children into thinking that they aren’t normal if they don’t eat at McDonalds. Also, the McDonald’s mascot features a tall, slim and slender clown. Most people call him Ronald McDonald. According to a survey, 9 out of 10 American children know who Ronald McDonald is. There is only one fictional character better known than Ronald McDonald, his name is Santa Claus. Another way McDonalds reels the kids in is their toys in the happy meals, currently McDonalds sells more toys than Toys R Us annually. All of these ads are aimed toward children to get them addicted to fast food in the early stages of life. Every year McDonalds is responsible for cutting down 800 square miles of rainforest. They use lethal poisons to clear the area for grazing pastures for cattle that are to be sent back to the United States as burgers. And what could be worse? They lie through their teeth about it. McDonalds claims to use recycled paper. However, only a small percentile is. It actually takes 800 square miles of rainforest to keep McDonalds supplied for one year. The hold McDonalds has on our nation is a powerful one. However, the first step to change is the easiest. Stop buying McDonald’s food, it maybe hard but think where the food comes from and what it’s linked to. Hopefully, you don’t become just another statistic for heart disease and cancer. So the next time you’re in a McDonalds you may want to think twice before ordering. “Even in this fast food nation, you can still have it your way.”