Game Plan

• SSR
• Reading Circle+Fishbowl
• Mini-Lesson
• Workshop/ Optional Quickwrite
• Author's Chair

Well, now that the mundanity of the game plan is out of the way, here comes my first day of Scribing!

Today had quite a lot to write about! The morning was cold which left most of North house still asleep as they wandered mindlessly like the Scholastic Undead into Ms.Edwards class for our morning dose of english. The zombified masses found seats and began the 20 minutes of SSR with hardly a word. After a substantial amount of silence from the class, Edwards arose and began to walk the room with her clipboard marking whether or not the zombies read. When she had gone from one side of the room to the other successfully, she, in an extremely fragile voice, (for fear of waking them and causing a monsterous riot) called attention to the class and alerted them of the impending fishbowl, that had loomed in the classroom for so long, that would be taking place today. As though somebody had injected a syrum for refreshing old memories into their head, there was a unanimous, yet silent, mix of "Oh, yeah!"s and "Oh, Crap!"s that erupted in the minds of the class.

So, with a quick glance at the room she decided to call upon Mr.Rommel. "Pick a number 1 through 30.", she demanded. With a bit of a pause, he spat "30"........ Mr.Yee! Your group (Me, Andy, Chelsea, and Brian)will be fishbowling today! How overjoyed we were at this fact (The last sentence was doused with cyber sarcasm). So the class fell silent as she said "You may begin." Brian quickly opened up the conversation by saying "So what do you guys think of the book?". Off we went, an interesting conversation erupted, which (as the class will tell you later) I dominated. Then, the dissection began. The class took turns talking about the group while Edwards sipped her coffee and waited for their hands to raise. General Consensus: I talk too much. Which is understandable, as Rocco (However it is spelled) put it, "Alan is a very difficult person to stop.". So perhaps, from this experience others and I will learn to maybe stop talking so much during the GROUP reading circle discussions.

Moving on! The class pressed on as the zombies learned how, and how not, to do a reading circles activity. Edwards, in a now slightly more confident voice, said "Everyone take out your Writing Workshop Notebooks and turn to side A". She decided now it was time to educate and question the zombie horde of teenagers. "What are some scenarios in which you can see that writing is not linear, but recursive?"

The silence that followed was extremely disappointing. Edwards defaulted to her "let me take a sip of my coffee" tactic, but to no avail. Frustrated, she began to randomly call on people, which was equally painful. After several failed attempts at coaxing an answer that met her standards for a "correct one". A few of them were close and almost correct. She explained the STAR method to each of us which seemed to make oh so much sense. Here it is for Reference.

• Substitute- (words,sentences,paragraphs,etc..) Revise-Make it better
• Take out- (Words, sentences, paragraphs,etc..) Remove unnecessary materials.
• Add- [BEWARE]- Use sparingly-make sure all information is relevant.
• Rearrange-(Paragraphs, sentences, etc..)-Organize the writing.

Off my little Undead minions! Write like the wind!She felt like saying, but in better judgement decided that perhaps she should give the masses an optional quickwrite. She jotted down five words that came to mind in her scattered brain: Disaster, Circumstance, Pancakes, Bunny, Sadly. "Write something useing all of those words! Now off my little education monkeys, off!"***  She set the class free to write what they wished. Most of the class was no doubt irritated by my excessively loud music erupting from the headphones on my ears, however they endured the pain and managed to write (assumed) the most interesting and well written stories ever in the history of literature! I know I certainly did! North House Prevails over the weak and academically unworthy again!

The bell sounded as Ms.Edwards returned from stamping the class' work. "Mr.Burton has volunteered to share his quickwrite." An eager David arose from his desk and made his way to the Author's Chair in order to hold his audience. I will not reveal the contents of his story, but to those of you interested in hearing it again (as it was most entertaining) need but to ask Mr.Burton and he will gladly share his story with the masses thousands, upon tens of thousands of times. (Really, ask him all the time........ Please.)

Well, you have all been a most accepting crowd and hopefully you few, who chose to read the entire thing, enjoyed it. My future Blog assignments will probably not be as in depth as this one, but I will do my best to keep it interesting. DONT FORGET TO LOOK AT TURNITIN.COM FOR THE NEW ASSIGNMENT!!

THANK YOU ALL, GOODNIGHT!

(As it is surely Night now that you have read this entry.)

***Not an actual quote, created for entertainment purposes***

Ya solo nos queda esperar a Megumi no Ame para terminar y esperar por un album.

RED CLIFF: ¿Qué voy a decir a estas alturas de esta canción? Pues que es la mejor canción de Alan. Que si no la has escuchado aún no se a que esperas. Una canción épica sin duda alguna. Puntuación: 5/5

Shin Sen ~RED CLIFF~: La versión en chino. Pues lo mismo que la japonesa aunque ya estoy completamente acostumbrado a la versión japonesa y esta no me suena tan bien. Puntuación: 5/5

Ashita e no Sanka ~Orchestra Version~: WoW. Me encanta. Simplemente maravillosa, alucinante y demás adejetivos. Suena tan... tan épica. Me alegro un montón que se hayan decidido a hacerla. Además, creo que esta completamente regrabada, su voz suena diferente que en la versión del primer single. Puntuación 5/5

Puntuación total: 5/5

Simple y totalmente perfecto.

Descarga aquí el single

He's so damn cute, I'm grinning like an idiot now. I've been wondering lately whether his place in my heart has been taken by Tacchan with all the influx of Tacchan's goodness from his solo concert. But watching his appearance in this show made me realize he's still my ichiban XD. Now all I need is for Koki to do something to renew my love for him. Srsly Koki? Anything? Even as a guest in SC club is ok. I know you complained that you're bored in your last jweb :-D

---

Red Cliff has leaked! Putting aside Red Cliff both Chinese and Japanese versions(which I've listened to PV rip a million times already), Ashita e no Sanka Orchestra Version is really magical*swoons*. Though I still prefer the original version. Maybe because I like the echo in her voice there. But still, both are love <3333. I hope this single sells loads!

Orchestra Version:

Original Version:

Edit: Seems like esnips' widget isn't working in wordpress? I just include the links then,

Ashita e No Sanka(Original)
Ashita e no Sanka-Orchestra Version-

My favourite bit was when Baz's dad told us about a dog humping Baz's mum "until it looked like it was going to jizz", and watching Stebag cry tears of laughter into his second helping of lamb.

Here's hoping we get invited back soon!

Saturday night.

We ate a lot of curry before going out, as we each worked on that basis that if "I make enough for everyone we'll have enough food for tea." This is incorrect as with 4 people you actually end up with enough food for 16 people. Still, we ate it all.

London was good; everyone danced like ADHD-ridden 10 year olds after a bucketful of skittles, and we drank plenty of "Gleneagles" finest scotch single malt. It tasted almost as good as Akabusi's Gold. We managed to lose Alan on the way to the club, in the club, and on the way home from the club, but apart from that it was all gravy. Oh except getting home on the nightbus - when are they going to sort out a direct, no-stopping service straight to the QAA from Trafalgar Square? It was 5.30 before some people managed to get home!

The match was so uninteresting I really can't remember much of it except that Alan looks a lot like a young Kevin Keegan in his Lightning shirt. We're playing the same team again next weekend in the cup and hopefully it'll be a mega goalfest, although judging by both teams prowess in front of goal that's unlikely.

Lightning, bolstered by the QAA, have now played 3, won 1, drawn 2.

Release Date • 2008.10.15
File Size • 51.4 MB
Bit Rate • 320 kbps

•Tracklist•

1. RED CLIFF ~Shin Sen~
2. Xin Zhan ~RED CLIFF~
3. Ashita e no Sanka ~Orchestra Version~
4. RED CLIFF ~Shin Sen~ (Instrumental)
5. Ashita e no Sanka ~Orchestra Version~ (Instrumental)

•DOWNLOAD•

[CD+DVD]

•Tracklist•

1. RED CLIFF ~Shin Sen~ (PV)
2. Bonus movie

Track Listing

1. RED CLIFF ~Shin Sen~
2. Xin Zhan ~RED CLIFF~
3. Ashita e no Sanka (Orchestra Version)
4. RED CLIFF ~Shin Sen~ (Instrumental)
5. Ashita e no Sanka (Orchestra Version (Instrumental)

1. RED CLIFF ~Shin Sen~

 I've been waiting for this track to release for so long.  It's a slow burner, but alan keeps captivating me with her soothing vocals.  Then the instruments come in and there's strings...OMG.  Already this ballad stand outs from the other ballads in her career so far.  Like there's something really graceful that's bringing her out.  After the blazing chorus it calms down again.  What really too this song to a high level was the Tibetan mountain notes close to the end.  Once again she sent shivers right down my spine.  Such a young lady and yet, so powerful.

2. Xin Zhen ~RED CLIFF~

Alright!  For us fans we get the Chinese version of the A-side.  I'm not sure which version I prefer exactly.  I'm noticing though that the Japanese version flows more smoothly while the Chinese has a more fierce punch to it.  Though I think sometimes that she cusses but she isn't -_-...   Still, it's basically the same track with a different language.  Problem is that this one failed because there's no Mountain notes....which totally failed the song *sigh*

3. Ashita e no Sanka (Orchestra Version)

Yep, her debut track gets the orchestra touch and OMG it starts off with the mountain notes which already made me happy.  The orchestra made the song so much more epic and beautiful at the same time.  I'm surprised they put so much effort into the single and what came out was this beaituful rendition of her debut.  How they played when the chorus started was the most slickest thing ever!

Wow, I am totally baffled.  I mean this single was totally win.  Both RED CLIFF's were superb new tracks and really brought the ballad a new meaning.  Ashita e no Sanka though was wow!  I mean they really did win with this song which was awesome.  Fire is the element being portrayed and it shows that fire isn't all aggressive and angry,, it can be a beautiful site as well.  Nice meaning alan

I also have come to realize in the past few weeks how much I enjoy spending time with family... whether it be tackling a corn maze with the cousins, talking politics with my aunt, seeing the cheeky crooked grin on my little cousins face or the boundless energy of his bigger brother, taking in a family dinner, or perfecting the art of sarcasm with my grandpa, they really help me remember whats important in life. I feel so fortunate to have the family that I do, I know for many a family get together is only wishful thinking, It seems the more people i meet in life the more I realize just how rare it is to find a family that keeps in such close contact with one another as the one I am apart of.

Anyways here are some cell phone photos from a trip to the pumpkin patch today with the cousins, a little windy but fun was had nonetheless!

Well as I was not home today or reading the papers/watching t.v. I did not see where it said on the news that if a person has moved and they are a registered voter they must be sure to have their change of address in by TODAY!  Not to sure what I've been thinking lately but it hasn't been about the upcoming election - believe it or NOT?   Well my mom called me to tell me this and I was in Rochester and as we didn't get home until 8:30 p.m. it looks like I will not be voting for our next President! 

I changed our address formally at the Post Office.  Then of course at the schools, doctors, etc.  Now I have to go to motor vehicles and change it there.  I never thought about changing it with the Department of Elections.

Oh darn it looks like Obama won't get my vote, or would it have been McCain?  Nope neither.  I wanted Hillary she was the best woman for the job. 

Monday I'm having a little party here at my house because not everyone has seen our new home yet and because Alan is home.  Well he leaves to go back to Boston on Monday night!  Nothing like cutting it close huh?

Can't wait for my Uggs'..........................   I so wish I would have taken a chance on a brighter color though! oh well I'm sure I will love they "stout" color!

SURGERY UPDATES:
I just had my 3rd corrective surgery a week ago. Read about it and see new pics of damage to legs here:
http://www.mydralanbittnerstory.com/corrections_legs.htm

NEWS UPDATES:
See http://www.mydralanbittnerstory.com/news.htm for news and all embedded links.

Franchises/ LLC's:

The folks at Beverly Hills Liposculpture have recorded 3 new LLC's, limited liability companies. Officer's/member's personal assets are protected from litigation. They take a salary out of the profits and are able adjust it so that the company itself has minimum assets. This can leave the company with little resources to pay damages for negligence or other compensible offenses.

For information go to : http://kepler.ss.ca.gov/list.html and type "Lipospecialists" in the LLC text box.

Take notice of the agents for service and addresses for the new LLC's.

• Stephanie Darcy is rumored to be the doctor's wife or girlfriend and was the marketing director at Ameriscan.
• Selwyn Gerber is a CPA, and seems to be the founding partner of another local "investment" firm as well as an officer for the Jewish Community Foundation and a teacher at the University of Judaism in Bel Aire. (Although only one student has "rated" him..hmmmm). His Amazon nickname is "offshorepro." While there is nothing wrong with making and saving money, being able to "store" money out of the country certainly has some ethical issues. And folks wonder why we have an economic crisis??? If we send it to other countries we certainly aren't helping ourselves. Bring it in, don't send it out! But more importantly, offshore accounts are very often used to hide money, not something I would brag about.
• There also seems to be some discrepancies in the LLC`addresses and it is possible that the Sacramento address might belong to a rabbi. Nice.....relgion helping to hide and misdirect...or at least it seems so.
• There is some question that the changes and new "clinic" sites might have been made in order to further conceal associations with the original clinic and patient complaints.

LipoDeisel?:

As silly as it sounds, this was actually proposed in Norway in 2005. Of course, our good doctor never misses a chance to make a buck and capitalize on the pain of others. (Women and men who look to lipo usually do so because they have some pain about the shape of their bodies, some warranted, some not. The let's talk about the physical pain....)

• Consent?: The doctor seems to be saving on gasoline in his vehicle. But I wonder if the fat he is using is from people who CONSENTED to such a use? And, how would anyone know? Once it is used there would be no way to verify consent.
• Approved by the EPA?: There also seems to be a question whether this proceedure is approved under any federal office.
• Dangers?: This doctor does no biological pre-screening on his patients (or didn't in the known past). How do we know that there are not contagions that might be dangerous? Is he payinbg for testing of every bottle of fat?
• Environmental Do-Gooder?: Of course he is trying to make us all think that he is doing his part to "go green." Does anyone really believe this? There have been a few medical discussion board posts supporting this, but they all seem to be members that many people believe are the doctor and his employees. The most salient issue here is safety and legality. Given Ameriscan, reinventing himself as "the" liposuction wizard, changing company names and forming LLC's under suspicious registry, law suites for negilgence and false advertising, and lipodiesel; the environment is probably just a convenient vehicle to a bigger offshore bank accunt. If the doctor is so green, why is he putting lipodiesel into his...SUV?

I can't help but conjure up the picture of a basement laboratory and severed body parts.......and I vote FOR stem cell research!

This topic was discussed on a Plasmetic board, but there were some inappropriate comments made on one post. The thread was closed, however instead of removing just the one inflamitory post, others were also deleted. The most pertinenent deletion addressed a "poster" who seems to make unfounded claims against the legitimacy of those who have been harmed by Dr. Bittner. "She" also seems to have the inside scoop on his new "testimonials," whose sites are designed by the same company who designs for the doctor.

Unsolicited or damage control?

The kids have the day off of school for the Jewish Holiday.  Then school tomorrow and off Monday for the Columbus Day Holiday!  My nephew is coming home for a long weekend from Boston.  Can't wait to see you Alan!

Last night I ordered a pair of Uggs online!  YESSSS  I'm second guessing myself about color though.  I've wanted these boots for a year.  The beautiful Cardy ones in Pink.  I ended up ordering the brown or "stout" because I always wear black and I thought brown would be a little different yet not get dirty.  The tan would get dirty too quickly.  I had also liked the blue but they were a bit bright.  Oh well it's brown for me.  I should have been bold and gone with the pink or blue!!!!

This weekend I'm hoping to get Dennis to take me and the kids to the Haunted Hayride at the Double M Western store it's awesome!  Love it - time we went with a bunch of family and friends and it was so fun laughing and being scared at the same time.  Michael Meyers kept following me and then Jason got in on the action!  It was scary with the chainsaw.  They had an awesome ending to the hayride - The Headless Horsemen came flying up on his horse when we were all done with the hayride and hanging out eating cider donuts and drinking hot cider!  He had no head really guys it was creepy and guess what it was a beautiful night - clear and a full moon too!

Track Listing

1. Shiawase no Kane

1. Shiawase no Kane

Her first online single comes in a form of a ballad.  Mainly it was to support the tragic happenings during the Sichuan Earthquake that took many lives.  It starts with some church bells ringing until the piano and alan comes in.  To say she has a basic grasp at this language is so wrong because she sounds beautiful in the song.  Though this wouldn't be her best ballad because she's released way better ones in fact.  Sadly, that's its shortcoming but I do love alan's ballad still.  Add the electric guitar was a nice idea and sounded nice as well. 

Yep, the lone song really proved that alan + ballads = WIN!  Even for what is was for, I thought she did a great job and there's a Chinese version of it as well which is great, but I miss Tibetan vocals already...

In an earlier blog I wrote about letting go, and how at least for me it takes a significant event or epiphany of sort to recognize "it" and do something about whatever "it" may be. I had a similar happening today, while browsing the book section of the student store at my local college. I forget the name of the book but it was something to the tune of "The twenty something monologue..." somewhat intrigued I flipped through the pages and stumbled upon the topic of "Toxic Relationships", due to a series of events over the past week or so I felt this is a chapter I must read. This is when the light bulb went off and it all made sense, as the chapter drew to a close all I could think was how did I not realize this before.

This is something Im sure most, if not all of us have dealt with... toxic friendships/relationships. The super duper educated definition of one according to webmd, "is a friendship that is unsupportive, draining, unrewarding, stifling, unsatisfying, and often unequal. Toxic friends stress you out, use you, are unreliable, are overly demanding, and don’t give anything back. While a toxic friend doesn’t have to lay claim to all of these charming characteristics, they do seem to bring on their nasty behavior on a consistent basis, as opposed to those of us who just have a bad day once in a while and take it out on some of the people we care about the most -- our friends."

Ill be honest in saying I had a friendship/relationship like this for almost 7-8 months which finally came to a rather messy end over a rather ridiculous subject and not surprisingly it exhibited all the symptoms as described above. Ill add to the list though, you realize this person constantly criticizes you, makes you second guess yourself when no one else does, makes empty promises, constantly tells you how they know best, holds you at an impossibly high standard, assumes you will forgive them for all their fuck ups but holds it against you for even slipping a little and above all brings out the worst in you.

In my reading they compared these types of relationships to that of abusive ones, you know your in one but you just shrug it off hoping its just a phase or its something you did, never the fact that maybe the other person just is not compatible at all. The resolution to all of this is blatantly clear just end it, but as I have found out its easier said than done... In hindsight though Im much better off, not having that constant pressure on my shoulders, not constantly wondering if their criticisms of me are actually true, not having to deal with drama that was never mine to begin with.

I guess I found comfort in knowing Im not the only person who had to deal with ridiculous shit like this, I keep forgetting there are billions of people in this world to meet why let one bad apple spoil the whole barrel... I  firmly believe karma will eventually find a way of getting even with this kind of person.

What was missing was the underlying narrative about what's going on in the US and around the world. With all the money that the candidates spend on polling, research, and spin, I wish they could get their positioning right.

Here's the outline of what I'd like to hear from both sides. I'm not trying to be comprehensive, mostly just to sketch the format of the argument with a few examples.

Dear Americans:

America is at a cross-road, and the outlook right now appears dark. If I told you that things just needed tweaking, that would be misleading and dishonest, because what we need is an overhaul of the systems that govern this country. At its core, capitalism and democracy are sound, but we have some problems to fix:

1. The capital and financial markets need to be restored to health. Like it or not, the financial system in this country - and around the world - is like the circulatory system of the body; no one notices when the blood is flowing, but when it stops flowing, the body shuts down. In the past two weeks we came terribly close to a collapse of those systems, and getting out will not be easy, but it has to be JOB 1 of the next president.
2. The war in Iraq has taken a toll on this country that goes beyond money and into our national psyche. Regardless of what you think about how the war was started, we've now inherited a situation that needs to be solved.
3. We need to restore the innovative, aggressive, competitive nature of our nation's industry, across the board. This will not be easy. Some kinds of jobs will never come back to our shores, but we can restore the competitiveness of American manufacturing and we can create jobs that can never be off-shored.
4. The social infrastructure that we rely on is breaking our backs. The costs of health care and education are sucking the life out of individual families, and in aggregate, the economy.

Those are the problems, my friends, and we have not faced a situation like this in our lifetimes. We are at a cross roads. BUT!

1. We can do it because we've done it before! Talk about the nation's forebearers, the founding fathers, JFK, Abe Lincoln, and current leaders in all areas of society, economic and social. We can climb this hill.
2. I believe in us. I believe in you. The America I believe in can tackle these problems. We have the technological infrastructure. We still have the strongest economic engine in the world.
3. What we need is leadership that knows the problems, and can pull the nation together to work on them. We DON'T need a leader who will control everything, but one who can see a bright future and bring Americans together to re-tool this country to be the leader of this next century.

The trouble is:

1. these problems are not simple, and thus the answers are not simple. Fixing them will require sacrifices. It's not popular for me to talk about sacrifices; my pollsters tell me that you want bonuses, not sacrifices.
2. The reason the financial system is broken: <explain ... show you've diagnosed and understand the problem, help people understand what's really going on. If you do this well, you can later explain how you'll fix it with their help.>
3. The reason the healthcare system is broken: <diagnose, explain>
4. Diagnose, explain each core problem.
5. For Obama:
   1. Before we can fix a problem, we need to admit it, admit the depth of the problem, and recognize our own parts - as a country, and as members of government - in creating the problem.
   2. The current administration is defending its record.
   3. While Senator McCain calls himself a renegade, he is part of the republican system, and his team would be more of the same.
   4. My opponent really will not admit the problem exists; he'll talk about the problems in vague ways, but he's stuck defending his own voting record and his long-standing alliance with President Bush.
6. For McCain:
   1. Talking about hope is different than creating hope; Senator Obama has a lot of spark and some good ideas, but this situation requires more.
   2. A complex situation like this requires a steady hand and experience.
   3. Senator Obama has almost no international experiences, and whether you like it or not, we are in a globally connected world. The success of the next 50 years will depend on the ability of your next president to understand world issues and work with world leaders. One or two trips to Europe is not enough preparation for the job, sir.

And I am asking for you to elect me to be your president:

1. We will start on day one with initiatives to restore confidence in the financial markets in American and around the world:
   1. Surely the candidates have ideas here?
2. With those initiatives under way, my next priority would be to stimulate the economy: <plan>
3. Include a LOT about how average citezens can help. This isn't about government welfare; it's about a country getting back in shape, and that requires all of us.
4. I believe in XYZ for healthcare, and I would do ABC...

   ... continue to lay out the platform.

Do you you get the picture?

What I present above puts the argument into a framework that explains:

1. The problem(s) we face, and the magnitude of the problem...
   ... candidates talked about individuals with problems (which is ok), but not as much about the deep structural problems with the country itself and its place in the world.

1. But we can do it... show belief; talk about the kind of country this is.
   ... John McCain did some of this, but not nearly enough... and without an overall strategy to help Americans understand how they can help.
2. The trouble with the existing situation (Diagnose the problem), and why my opponent can't solve it.
   ... diagnosis was sadly lacking in this debate.
3. Why my plan addresses the problem and avoids pitfalls
   ... again, this depends on a clear articulation of the problems and the reasons the problems exist. At this point, lay out the policies!

I think both candidates missed the boat. Their problems all come back to positioning:

1. They didn't admit the problem, or the scale of the problems. There was not a full reckoning of the magnitude of the problem in the capital markets, but perhaps they don't want to spook the public? I'm not sure how many Americans have internalized the impact of the collapse of the Wall Street giants over the past several weeks, and the tumbling stock market, but it seems to me that the nation must be stunned. What happened? What next? Americans know the problems are big, but if a leader doesn't talk about it, he doesn't connect with us.
2. I didn't hear a lot of confidence. People are scared, and they need to believe. Show belief in the country to overcome this challenge.

   This isn't just about government doing more. It's about giving citezens their own marching orders; what can they do for the economy? Empower the nation, and you'll reduce the reliance on government by definition.

3. Diagnosis: I didn't get the sense that either leader really understands why we have the problems we do! If he doesn't undersand the problems folks, I guarantee he can't solve them. And if he doesn't share his diagnosis with Americans, Americans can't get on board!
4. Lay out the plan. In the product world, these are the features. In this debate, they talked about the features without describing the problems. We were left with a debate about features with no way to evaluate them.

Maybe what these guys really need is a product manager.

- Alan

Mega-sagne recipe

Ingredients: 1kg of mince, 2 cloves garlic, a shake of worcester sauce, 1.5 red onions, a good number of QAA carrots, 3 tins chopped tomato, crinkle cut lasagne sheets (swanky), and a jar o' white sauce

Method: If you don't know how to make a mega-sagne out of that lot you should go stand in front of a train. You've wasted your life.

Martini Gang by ~7perfect7 on deviantART