The vignette describes a day in the life of a student from waking up to after school. They dread their morning routine of getting ready for school. During school, they sit through classes wishing for the time to pass faster. Their mood improves during lunch when they can socialize with friends and break from routine. They look forward to after school when they can enjoy time with friends without obligations.

1. The Place<br />The sticky floor is too much for me. It is what denies me of my usual movement. Feet in my shoes, wanting to move but is let down by the force of the ground below them. Every so often, the cool breeze graces me with its presence, but moves on shortly after. The yearning is still in my skin for that air to reoccur once again. <br />This is not just any place; it is a dreaded, but forcefully accepted place. For I have no choice but to play, exasperating my body of exhaustion and heat. Sweat drips from everywhere, dizziness overtaking my thoughts of the next water break. Finally, when the coach let’s us have three minutes to rest and be still, I gulp down water as fast I ever could. My feet chasing after one another, towards the air-filled plastic object. <br />This is all too much to handle. Hot and heavy air fills the place, causing it hard to breath. Harder and harder I try before every breath seems like a new challenge. I think about the next time I will be able to play in the florescent, air-conditioned haven. The haven that cools all worries, all tiredness and sweat. This haven is best to play in, especially because of the floor. It is shiny and easy to jump on, unlike the sticky mess of the current place. And yet still, this cool, cool area stays in my mind, and I begin to wonder again when I will be able to stay there again.<br /> Maybe not today, or tomorrow, or the next day. It seems 5 minutes has lasted 5 hours, with still 60 minutes to go. These 60 minutes seem like time is passing by slow, like I’m caught in a slow motion dream, or is it a nightmare. These troubling notions cause me to feel like it is not letting my play to my best ability at all.<br />Through the trouble and fighting might, the love of the game and the fellow players are what really gets me through. Their support, along with mine returned. Asphalt. Tar. Sweat. Rubber. Sweat. Sweat. These familiar smells will get more familiar, as time goes by. These smells are all around the place, it is hard to avoid and ignore. When early October rolls around, this place will be a stage, where my fellow players and I can perform. This is the place where my fellow players and I will play for the very last time.<br />The Place Commentary<br />When writing “The Place”, I decided that I didn’t want to make it obvious about what I was talking about, but make the reader wonder where this mysterious place was and why I was talking about it. In this vignette, I used four main literary techniques to help illustrate my points across to the reader without being blunt. These techniques include structure, theme, tone and imagery.<br />Structure<br />With regards to structure, I used a sequential organization of events to describe the place. I started with referring to the past, then the present and finally looking into the future. I found that it was appropriately fit for the subject matter of my vignette. Each set of ideas was organized by time as well, which were organized into separate paragraphs. This way, the reader would be able to focus on the subject matter related to a specific time period that I was writing about. <br />Theme<br />The main theme behind the vignette I was trying to portray while writing was that even when one is put in a tough position, it is important to remember to have fun and enjoy one’s time with people around you while you can. When talking about dreading playing volleyball in the outside court, I kept on emphasizing that it was my last year playing and that I should enjoy it while it lasts with my fellow team mates. <br />Tone<br />The tone in this vignette is not set on a certain mood or anything, but more like back and forth between different possibilities. I like to think that it carries a negative tone but then turns positive in the end. Some readers can interpret my intentions in different ways, but that it how I would like the readers to interpret it.<br />Imagery<br />Finally, I found that with using imagery, it would be the easiest and most comparable way to hint the reader about what I was talking about. Describing the environment and the surroundings were fairly hard to be less obvious in describing, but the visual aspect was the most fun. I really enjoyed writing about what the reader would see if they were in this place and what they would be feeling. <br />After the Clock Turns<br />That moment. That very moment. That very moment I have been looking forward to since the morning. All day it is a blur. Wake up, brush teeth, drive, sit, look, sit, look, write. When will it all make sense? When will the time come when I no longer look forward to the clock turning?<br />Waking up to the sound of my favorite song, one would think would get me up and ready, but it is the most dreadful and hardest part of my day. Pulling off my covers, I drag my feet to my closet, to my bathroom, to my desk, out my door. Down the stairs, I grab my water bottle and fill it to the brim. Again, my eyes are still half closed, craving for the comfort of my green sheets upstairs. I put the bottle in my backpack and head out the door. Finally, the gate crashing open opens my eyes a little more, with the sound of the machine beeping as I reverse out of the driveway. The wind in my face and hair in the air is more and more eye opening. I greet my friends and have conversations about the weekend, school and mumble back and forth.<br />The clock turns. It turns again. 7:20 am. Sitting down on the plastic chair and pulling out my computer, this is the routine. Opening my computer, random conversations from the night before alert me, but immediately close. Tick tick… when is this going to end. Rambling after rambling, notes after notes. This is routine, but when will the routine be broken? The clock turns. It turns again. 10:20 am. The rambling turns into mumbling, how are we going to break routine today? Where are we going to break the routine? We take out our passes and exit the white gates that enclosed the building. Filling our stomachs to the brim and mumbling. Up to the very brim, mumbling more and more. When the clock turns, we must get back into routine. Notes, computer, notes, rambling. <br />My eyes are suddenly awake, the clock. The clock. It turns to that time. That time of day I have been thinking about since I opened my eyes and heard my song. I run out of the room, bags in hand. Into my cart I drive to my friend’s house to fill my stomach yet again. This time, it’s actually enjoyable. It’s not just bumbling or rambling, it’s actual conversation and laughter. This is the time where I like where the clock has turned. <br />After the Clock Turns Commentary<br />When writing “As the Clock Turns”, I wanted to link it to my other vignette called “The Place” by keeping the same setting as one another. Both are inspired my ISB and being at school and my observations of certain things. My interpretations and inner feelings towards ISB are in both of these vignettes and tie in with the themes. There is not necessarily a plot to this vignette, more or less it is used to create as much imagery as possible.<br />Structure<br />With regards to structure, I followed a chronological sequence of events to organize my thoughts. I started out with waking up in the morning, leaving for school, my thoughts during school and lunch period and then finally leading up to my final thoughts about how I end my school day. The paragraphs are split into introduction, morning before school, during school and then after school.<br />Theme<br />The main theme behind my vignette is the idea about how routine and time can change our entire mood and how we live everyday. Once the routine is broken, I feel that it is when we really live our lives and appreciate everything how it is. I agree that routine is important, but it is equally important to break routine as well and just live life to its fullest.<br />Tone<br />The tone in this vignette is mainly negative and drowsy, but increasingly gets more and more positive as the reader reads on. It starts out being very negative in describing how I do not want to wake up and go to school, but in the end it is very positive when the routine is broken and I am able to hang out with my friends and enjoy our time together.<br />Imagery<br />Imagery is the main literary device I used in this vignette because I have always found it is most successful in sharing my innermost thoughts and feelings about certain things. I think that imagery is my strongest area in my writing and I always try to utilize it as much as possible, especially when given the option on a project such as this. I used imagery in many different places, whether in a negative or positive way. Negative imagery can be seen in the beginning of my vignette whereas positive imagery can be seen in the end of my vignette. <br />