Farewell 4unit (or E.E.2 rather)

[666_blessings]

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Of course we'll make it into showcase! I have a good feeling (derived from the intellectual pool in this forum) that the entire showcase will be poetry this year. They can not deny our genius and with Physician's help, the dark side shall triumph!

Note to self: too much coffee

[Airness]

We're a family us EE2 people.
Went in as a family.
Going out as a family.

[Meldrum]

Awwww...GLORY, GLORY HALLELUJAH!

[black_man]

i think physician touched on something that is perhaps very significant in the whole duration of the ee2 work. does everyone feel as though they've achieved a sort of greater enlightenment through your work? like some kind of aesthetic awareness or something similar? i'm a little bit curious to know how the whole work has impacted upon everyone and how we all approach the HSC

EDIT: I'm really sorry to digress from your initial subject physician, i'm not meaning to sort of detract any of the magnitude of you leaving or anything

[physician]

Originally Posted by black_man

i think physician touched on something that is perhaps very significant in the whole duration of the ee2 work. does everyone feel as though they've achieved a sort of greater enlightenment through your work? like some kind of aesthetic awareness or something similar? i'm a little bit curious to know how the whole work has impacted upon everyone and how we all approach the HSC

EDIT: I'm really sorry to digress from your initial subject physician, i'm not meaning to sort of detract any of the magnitude of you leaving or anything

lol... there's no need to be sorry black man...

i initially chose E.E.2 ( 1 ) because i love writing poems..
( 2 ) because i wanted to write about something that i felt was sometimes too dificult to express in any form other than the written form...

my major work was based upon the theme of motherhood.. I initially wanted to investigate and make comparison between the status of mothers in Christinaity/Judaism and Islam

I was also inspired by the two advanced english preliminary texts ( wuthering heights and Robert Frost poetry)...

u know i found out that Robert Frost's mother as well as Wilfred Owen's mother played a siginificant role in influencing the kind of poetry they wrote...

It's kind of like saying "behind every just ruler lies a just/peaceful/intelligent/benevolent mother" (i know that's not how the saying goes... that's just my interpretation)

anyways... my major work kind of provided me with some relief from all the calculation and memorisation involved in my other subjects... i would allow my mind to drift off into a world filled with my thoughts.. and eventually was able to put them on paper...

I think i would have burnt out long ago if it wasn't for 4 unit... oneof the reasons why i continue to work on my major work every now and then .. (lol like 10 minutes a month.... lol just kidding)


I love english extension 2 and i will always continue to love the subject...

i was able to learn heaps of stuff about mother daughter/mother son/ father daughter/ father son relations... and just how parents can impact our lives... I managed to make comparisoons between Christianity and Islam by researching both perspectives on Mary - or Mariam - and they way she was viewed by the religious followers of both religions...

i also found out that Dates are an excellent food intake for pregnant women... Allah advised Mariam (Mary) to eat dates whilst she was pregnant... here's an extract from my resreach:

Allah advised Maryam to eat freshly ripened dates. Today, such dates are considered to be food and medicine. Scientists nowknow that dates contain more than ten substances considered essential for the human bosy's well-being and continuing helath.

Dates ontain plenty of the easily digested and absorbed sugars that give the human body its energy for heat and movement....

there's alot more where that came from...

so ladies during pregnancy make sure u get plenty of dates...

anyways... that's just a portion of the things i learnt... I was also trying to combine science with english/philosophy which i knew would help me out in my other subjects...
and indeed it did....

4 unit in general has really made yr 12 and enjoyabel year... and has taught me hepas of new stuff...

once again thank u E.E.2


Note: lol... i just realised how long my message was....

[ameh]

to do: get a date

[boasboy]

well physician.. i may be joining ur boat soon.. i havent even done half of my MW and it's due in less than a month at my school.. so.. *salutes*

"Closing your eyes, you effortlessly lick it clean as if it never were. You watch as the rest, discoloured and flawed, slowly veins its way through a river of dirt and mixes into a swirl of life and dust.

You have taken a life. You are a murderer.

From dust you came, and to dust you shall return."

YES YOUUU ! my story about dead babies and abortion and taking a male feminists perspective... but it's only 4000 words atm.. and i've lost my direction.. i wonder what i should do..

TO DROP OR NOT TO DROP ?

[physician]

Originally Posted by boasboy

well physician.. i may be joining ur boat soon.. i havent even done half of my MW and it's due in less than a month at my school.. so.. *salutes*

"Closing your eyes, you effortlessly lick it clean as if it never were. You watch as the rest, discoloured and flawed, slowly veins its way through a river of dirt and mixes into a swirl of life and dust.

You have taken a life. You are a murderer.

From dust you came, and to dust you shall return."

YES YOUUU ! my story about dead babies and abortion and taking a male feminists perspective... but it's only 4000 words atm.. and i've lost my direction.. i wonder what i should do..

TO DROP OR NOT TO DROP ?

don't join my boat... it's allready fulll...

I had various reasons which influneced my decision to drop.... also keeping in mind that i was on 13 units....

I also wanted to spend the 3-4 hours i was going to allocate to 4 unit during the holidays on my other subjects... which over the entire 2 weeks would make a large chunk of hours which equals way extra study which could aid me in getting the higher marks i'm looking for....

duuuude..... ur story sounds awsome....... I'd love to read that man.. just reading what it was about got me interested.... 4000 lol... that's heaps...

Don't let the pressure get to u... if my marks weren't so low in chemsitry and ext maths.. i would never have dropped ext.2 english...

by the way... pm me if u want any help with any specific part of ur major work.. or more precisley if I can help u with the idea itself....

that's if u need any help.. or just post ur questions up here....

don't give up.... i had 5+ reasons that led to my decision

and remeba the boat is full.. plus if u do decide to join .... i will throw u.. no hang on... I will KICK u overboard... lol jusk kidding... I will throw u... not kick u....

I'm looking forward to reading ur major work allready... keep at it....

[kami]

I agree with physician, don't drop EE2 boasboy. 4000 words is still a considerable amount, and your story does sound rather cool and inventive(though thought it was about Pinnochio...how times change and how I got confused *sigh*), if you want inspiration just read glitterfairy's posts in a certain thread(which I cant remember but i think physician does) and you will feel revving to go again, also remember that no one is asking you to imbue your work with the pinnacle of literary perfection, this is the High School Certificate...*high school*, a fact too many people forget. And if it makes you feel any better you are sitting on a higher word count than I am. So don't lose hope, and don't jump ship!

[physician]

after spending more than half an hour searching for that wonderful post.. i was unsuccessful in finding it..

i have no idea in which thread it was posted... I have it printed out in my 4 unit folder but i don't think i saved it on my computer...

Let's hope glitterfairy can revive her post....

[glitterfairy]

Hello darlings!

Unfortunately I have to dash off to a singing lesson in a few minutes, so I can't stay long, but I will come back later for more pep talking!

EDIT: Is this the post people were looking for?

http://boredofstudies.org/community/...t=70578&page=2

-END EDIT-

There are several milestones in every EE2 journey, such as your first full draft and your first full reworking. No-one says they'll be easy (indeed, we all say the opposite!) but it WILL be worth it!

If you are repeatedly butting your head against a brick wall, take the poor baby AWAY from the brick wall (Down boy! Down!) and try the stairs or the yellow brick road instead.

We get so involved, working with our major works, that we can trap ourselves into believing there is only *one* light at the end of *one* tunnel. Wrong! There are many tunnels and many eventual destinations to choose from. They all head in different directions, and where one does not work for you, try another!

I suggest you look for new inspiration, or perhaps try a new twist. Take a break, write at weird hours of the morning. Maybe even stop trying to force something to happen. Some people believe that it is the author that creates a story, others believe it writes itself. Either way, it will happen the way it's supposed to happen. Think of it a bit like an angsty teenager. Knowingly forcing it one way = headaches. Encourage it, built it, reward it, respect it, work with it.

But, we also need to *have* something to work with

Rather than writing out your story *perfectly*, as I imagine many of you are, just get the blank plot out there on canvas. Write just as much as you need to to justify it's existence (eg having characters say certain things to make the plot work, bring in all your ideas - somehow! Yes, even if it's cliched and stupid) and so that it actually WORKS. God, I remember my first full draft. It was almost as if the first half aimlessly headed in one direction, and then the second half was the only one that realised the story had to end with some kind of resolution

Don't expect your first full drafts to be all that good. They really don't need to be - all they need to do, is WORK.

It is so much easier to work off something that already exists. What I found was in my second half of my first draft, I'd haphazardly brought in all the themes, choice quotes and images I wanted, but will nothing in the first half to ease their passage (I call this jackhammering - "Here is my story - this is my second chapter - this is more - herearelotsofimportantthemes - THE END!")

Remember, the creative writing process is just that - a process. I say this to myself a lot (damn, I wish I listened to my own advice more), but 9 time out of 10, you're really not going to like what you write THE FIRST TIME.

But play with it, toy with it, work it into something new.

You've already written 4000 words, which tells me that you believed you had a good concept that had the potential to become a good EE2 major work. A good concept doesn't just "transform" into a good story - it has to change, develop, mature.

Be patient, and be strong. Have faith in yourself! I do.

Where one path fails you, try another. And all the while - know that pretty much every other EE2 student out there is feeling, or has felt what you do, and that everyone here on BOS is here to support you.

[velox]

you might aswell finish it off boasboy

[kami]

I found "THE POST!" by glitterfairy, enjoy:

Originally Posted by glitterfairy

*big hugs to all the 05's*

I remember going through all of this... I used to rework my story from top to bottom, and if I didn't like something (normally halfway down the second page) I was utterly screwed... I remember staring at the screen for hours, freaking out and wondering how the heck I was going to make it work. Naturally, I REFUSED to move on until I was satisfied. Unfortunately, that could take weeks...

I usually only wrote when I was under pressure to. My dear EE2 teacher - Mrs D - figured this out fairly early on. That was when the phone calls - to the home phone!!! - started for example: "If you don't have your full draft done by thursday next week, Bad Things Will Happen!"

My problem was in working myself up so much I couldn't write. If I actually started writing, usually everything turned out ok - but sitting there, and going "omg omg omg this is not working!!!! Why isn't it working? Why can't I think of a way to make it work!" - not good. It was because of this my writing was so sporadic - on good days when I just wrote without thinking too much, it was fine. On bad days when I was stressed and freaking out over the smallest of things, I used to just fall to pieces... nothing got done. If you're like me, just write - don't think! Even if your writing takes you into a completely new direction, let it.

Writing now is especially different. Thanks to the HSC, emotions are probably at an all-time-high and it can be very difficult to suddenly have to break out of the system - sure you have to write from your soul, but you ALSO have to be able to distance yourself somewhat to ensure your major work doesn't become an extended diary entry (or, to avoid many random articles in your journal... mysteriously appearing... by the thousands ). There's a beautiful quote from Finding Forrester I wrote in my journal: "The first draft comes from your heart, the second comes from your head". And that's the way it should be. (for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, be ashamed of yourself, and rent it next weekend!)

Sometimes it can feel as if you're constantly butting your head against a brick wall in terms of where your major work is going - typical story, it started out as a good idea but you're running out of things to write about, or, it just doesn't feel right. Sometimes you just need a change of scene to get new inspiration to write - reading a new book, thinking as you walk home - sometimes it all just hits all of a sudden and it's like "wow! Now I know why it's not working! I'm going to take it into a new direction!". So, maybe you just need to tune out and go absorb yourself in something new like a movie (Finding Forrester, Finding Forrester, Finding Forrester!!!!) or book (far out, we really are geeks if our idea of a good time is a good book... *sigh* lol!).

Be wary of being overly picky - remember, your work as a whole is more important than the syntax of the one sentence (although if you are freaking out, talk to goldendawn... he and syntax/all things proper in the literary world are like *this* close). If you need someone to tell you to stop being paranoid, pm me and I'll add you to my msn list and personally send you "STOP BEING PARANOID" messages until it sinks in

And finally: Don't let the stupid HSC system make you cry! I'll beat it up if it does! (let's not talk about how for now - will figure that out later ) EE2 is subjective - always has been, always will be. To a certain extent, they either will or won't like your work - with that knowledge in mind, you don't really have to worry about whether it'll be "good" or not. Just write.

I think what's most important about EE2 is that you walk away having learnt something. Even if you look back later and despise your major work (give me two seconds, and I can rip my own major work into 16 pieces. I can't stand to look at it these days, and the only reason it remains on BOS is as an example of what you should NOT do), if you have learnt from the process, then you have gained something. Most people have never really written something on this scale before - now is the time to learn how your own writing process works, how to deal with the obstacles that come up, how to distance yourself from your work whilst still keeping that strong sense of yourself within it.

So long as you write the best work you think you can do, (oh, here we come with the HSC cliches) you've done all you can. You all have the talent and the passion just to get this far - now take this opportunity and use it! I know you can!

[boasboy]

hmm after all this support i think i might just try abit harder and finish it :P

and to kami.. it is still on pinnochio.. i made up some interpretation of pinocchio being a being/non-being without a mother and i duno i have it written in my journal somewhere :P i spat it all out in my viva... and yeh :P

THANKS ! well i was planning to drop either this or physics anyway.. cos i have 13 units.. i guess i'll just work my ass off for the trials and see how i go~!

[glitterfairy]

*speculative look*

It would appear physics is dropping like hotcakes...