I realize school has only been out for two weeks, but I miss it like crazy. Lacking any other blog topic (my mind is still a pile of mush, sorry), I thought I’d make a list of things I miss.
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Construction sites. They’re building a large parking structure in the campus parking lot, and I enjoyed seeing the construction progress. Same too with the apartment building at 12th and K. I’m sure it’ll be done by the time I go back to school in August.
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Going outside during the day. This seems odd, but really, it’s true. During the school year, I have to walk between classes, and wait outside for lightrail and buses. I’d probably spend about two hours outside during the day. Now I get to work at 7:30 in the morning, and don’t go outside until it’s time to go home at 5pm. I could go outside during the day, but it’d only be for a few minutes on my break.
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Assigned reading. Yes, I realize this makes me look like the biggest geek. But I like reading new authors, and it’s nice to have some direction in who to read. I wouldn’t have known I like Blake and Wordsworth and Donne without my Brit Lit classes.
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Seeing people not related to me. Since I work with my Mum for my aunt, the majority of the people I see on a regular basis are related to me. I miss seeing people who didn’t know me when I wore diapers. Really, it means I need to get out more.
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Quality blog posts. My mind has turned beyond mush since the end of the semester, and I can only hope that I snap out of it sometime soon.
I’m sure I miss more things than that, but that’s all that I can think of at the moment. I need to stop playing Sims2 at night, and start writing again. My fiction has been seriously lagging, and I can’t even bring myself to read a book that isn’t a romance novel.
Warning: Serious gloating ahead.
So, I just checked my grades, because my sister’s were all posted yesterday. I’ve been checking on and off for a week, and while my English grades have been up for awhile, I’ve been waiting for my Math grade to post.
Final grades for the Spring 2006 semester.
Will you look at that? Seriously, and A in Math? I totally didn’t expect to pull my grade up from a B, since I did horrible on the quizzes, and stopped turning in my homework at the end of the semester.
But the gloating is all about the 4.0. Not just for the semester, but the whole year! Genius! This should go a long way towards petitioning all my drops and failures off my transcript for when I transfer. I really fucked up my first two years in college, and it took a two year break to get to where I needed to be.
So, while I feel like a looser that everyone I graduated with—if they attended a four-year college right out of college—has already gotten their B.A., and at 23 I’m still working on my A.A. But, I’m so very proud of my grades, and am glad I took that break.
If I hadn’t have taken that break, I’d have a A.A. in Business now, hate my job, and probably wouldn’t have ever even thought of going on to get a B.A. As it is, I’m on track to finish my A.A. next year, transfer to Sac State in fall of 2007 to get my B.A., and am even thinking about getting a Masters.
I would have never dreamed I’d be an English major, or that I could do all this. It took that break to really decide what I wanted to study, and now I’m happier than I’ve ever been.
Now, to convince my Dad that I need a really good present for doing so well… Like a spinning wheel. I really want one of those.
—”Somebody Told Me,” Hot Fuss: The Killers
After my math make-up test today, I’ll have finished another year of college. Not my first year, though. That I did straight out of high school, and made a mess of the whole thing. No, this is my first year where I got nearly straight A’s (every class except math), and didn’t drop out of a single course.
This is amazing to me. I mean, I always thought I was smart, but this is really the first time I’ve ever pushed myself to actually do good in school. I never got straight A’s in high school. I never even tried. And the B I got in math this semester isn’t going to dampen my enthusiasm . I’m actually thrilled that I did so well, considering that math is really, really hard for me. All those rules for what to do when really make it hard for me to remember how to work a problem without external help with the way of a book, but since we have to take tests without notes, I did my best, and it’s good enough to let me go on next semester. Only two more Math classes to go until I’m done with Math for good. Yay!
However, with school done for the semester, I have no idea what to do with all this time on my hands. It’s very weird to get home and not have any homework that needs to be done. No papers that need writing, no equations that need to be solved. No real reason to sit down at the computer and get things done.
This lack of school work to be done does leave time for things I haven’t really done much of. TV watching, for instance. Although, I kind of liked not watching so much TV. But, with the TV watching comes knitting, because then I feel like I’m really getting things done.
I have a couple of projects on the needles that I need to get back to, and some socks that need pairs. So, this summer, instead of blogging about school work, I’ll be blogging about knitting. And reading. And writing. And pretty much the same old stuff, just repackaged into something new. Maybe.
But I’m still having school withdraws. I’ll let you know when I get my books for next semester. Because I’m forcing myself to not buy them now. I need some sort of vacation, I guess.
— “Losing a Whole Year,” Third Eye Blind: Third Eye Blind
Like the geek that I am, I love open source arguments.
Actually, I like legal arguments of any kind. Say, for example, a legal fight between Debbi Stoller and Sew Fast Sew Easy over the phrase “stitch and bitch” (updates over at Girl From Auntie). My love for legal documents and arguments cause me to waste time at work, because if I catch a choice phrase on a deposition transcript while I’m copying it, I have to stop and read a few pages.
This sick, strange love manifested pretty early, and it’s one of the main reasons why I wanted to become a lawyer in high school. Now I’d be happy as a paralegal, I think, or a researcher. I love looking things up. Writing about them? Not so much.
So, when I come across legal arguments being played out on the internet, I take notice. I take interest (I take a sad look at myself when I realize I’ve just badly quoted a Dashboard Confessional song). I try to keep up on the proceedings. I read legal documents when released.
And really, I just find another way to waste my time.
Like, today, for example. I have an English final today, and I can bring a page of notes with me. Did I do a page? No. Did I do anything? No. Why? Because I procrastinate so badly. And legal arguments are the best way to do it.
—”Several Ways to Die Trying,” A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar: Dashboard Confessional
I really hate writing emails to teachers, because I never know what to say.
I tend to apologize overly much, as if it is such an imposition for them to have to read my four-line email asking for a meeting or to arrange a time to pick something up (say, like a creative writing portfolio) or even just turning in a digital copy of a paper.
I hate that I never know what to write, whether or not to expect a response, or least of all, if I used the correct email address to send it. Since I’ve started using gmail—consolidating all my addresses into one account—I’ve double emailed my English teacher a few times, sending first with the wrong address, and then having to resend it to make sure that it will get through the spam filters.
It’s such a hassle having so many email addresses. I think at the moment, I have five that are still in use. The main one for my Earthlink account that I hardly use, the “creative” one through Earthlink that I used all the time, one for my old domain, one for the new one, and gmail.
While each of these addresses are useful, I could stand to get rid of the two earthlink ones since the “creative” one was for my first blog, and the main account is my name, for use in filling out forms and such where I want to be sure that the email will always be correct. Since my gmail account is my name as well, I could cut the Earthlink one, but I’m too lazy, and I can’t remember all the places where I’ve used it.
I also have a work email address, but since I hardly ever use it, I don’t really consider it mine, even though it also is my name. Although, I have thought up a really cool feature that would be, like, totally awesome.
I have to email lawyers. A lot. And unfortunately, they aren’t the most tech-savy of the bunch. Often when I email a transcript file, I blind-carbon-copy the lawyer’s secretary so that she1 has a copy of the file, and won’t call and ask me for another one. I like to avoid more work that way.
However, it would be brilliant if with the blind-carbon-copy, I could add a blind note which lets the secretary know that the lawyer also received a copy of the file, and that maybe they don’t have to do anything with it. This would work equally well if you were having an email argument with someone (what, haven’t you had one?), and want to include that special invisible someone, while perhaps adding an extra snarky comment or two.
Oddly enough, I’ve been thinking about email for awhile, and essay-avoidance made this post possible. My paper on Frankenstein is due today, and well, I didn’t really want to write it. I’d say it’s the crappiest thing I’ve ever written, but that honor goes to last week’s research paper.
With the end of the semester here (leaving one last essay to finish), I should be able to devote some time to scanning in my work from this semester. I am unsure if I’m going to post all of it, but definitely the essays with teacher’s comments will be up and about by June.
Not that it’ll do anyone any good for this semester.
—”Veneer,” Villains: The Verve Pipe
- Don’t mean to be sexist, but it my experience, most of the secretaries I have dealt with have been female. [back]
I just love math tests. Sigh.
I took one this morning, although that isn’t why the post is late. No, that’s because I was too lazy to plug in the laptop last night to sit down to write. Although, I did think about it.
The math test today was all about square roots. I don’t particularly like square roots, but this test was easier than all the rest, and took me only an hour, instead of the normal full class period of an hour and a half. Yippy.
I did have a nice conversation with a girl in my class who I had never talked to before. Turns out she’s an English major as well, and we’ll be in the same American Lit class next fall. Since there’s only one American Lit class next fall.
Other than that, nothing.
Well, there’s new stuff, but I can’t talk about it because it’s mine to tell. I’m happy about it, though, although I feel bad about it at the same time. Yeah, confusing. Perhaps You will talk about it with me on our podcast, since it’s his story.
I am looking forward to seeing Dustin tomorrow, which is odd because I only ever see him on Sunday. But, with it being Mother’s Day this weekend, I have to spend the day with my mother, so Saturday it is.
Have I bored you yet? Ah, well, next week will be better. Hopefully.
—”Semi-Charmed Life,” Third Eye Blind: Third Eye Blind
How my room looks is generally a good indication of where my mind is at. Which means my mind is anywhere but here.
I had briefly contemplated taking a photo of my atrociously messy room to portray how bad off I am. I am not a neat freak by any means, but I do generally keep my things orderly. Right now, I have piles of books on the ground, piles of papers on the scanner, piles of clothes everywhere. The only cleared surface in my room is—or was—my bed. I had had to move the clean clothes from the chair to the bed to have a place to sit.
So why is my mind so scattered? I don’t really know. I’m not stressed, even though the end of the semester is here, which brings with it two essays, two math tests, and a written short answer/essay final. I know some people are slammed beyond belief, but I’ve been working hard all semester, and real finals are hard to come by in upper English classes. Most teachers would rather you type up a final essay at home than read handwriting, so the essays are really finals in disguise.
Other than that? I’ve been reading. I tore through three books this weekend, although two were trashy romance novels (don’t laugh. I always own up to my reading materials. And they were Regency Romance. So there) and the third was Servant of the Bones by Anne Rice.
I’d read Servant before, and I checked it out of the library again for this go-round. Except… Now I’ve half formulated poems floating around my head involving bones, and Blake, and maybe a little bit of Milton and a ton of history cramming it’s way down through my pen, which means everything is stripped out.
Whoever said poetry is 10% of what a poet imagined in their head is entirely correct.
Add on top of all of that a sick desire to torture myself at the gym, and that’s about it. I was so off-kilter on Tuesday that I forgot Wednesday’s post. And I was all twitchy and jumpy every time I thought about how I had missed a day. Yes, I get like that about classes too.
So, just like my room, my mind is a jumbled mess. I have things I want to talk about, things I’d like to vent about, and things I’d like to forget ever occurred to me.
I think a podcast is coming in the very near future, although, not with You. We’ve run into a slight snag in how to record our conversations over Skype, and until we get that sorted, it’s just going to have to wait.
—”Chicago is so Two Years Ago,” Take This to Your Grave: Fall Out Boy
The semester is nearly over, and I can’t say I’m sorry for it. These last few weeks have just been killer. This is the last week of classes, and finals start next Wednesday.
I’ve already registered for next semester, and it leads me into a false sense of security, jumping forward in time to the spring semester, when I’ll only have very few necessary classes. Everything is on track for me to graduate a year from now with my A.A., ready to transfer to Sac State or some other nearby college.
The fall semester will be a busy one. I’ll be taking 17 units, the most I’ve ever taken at one time. I have three Lit classes, Nutrition (to fill a general ed requirement), and Intermediate Algebra. I don’t think it could be possibly any harder than this semester, since I won’t have to do more than two essays per Lit class, at most.
Moving back to this semester, I just wanted to share with everyone that I managed to get the highest grade in the class on my last math test. 100%, which I totally didn’t expect to get, especially when I got 9 out of 20 on the quiz we took covering the same chapter. And no, I didn’t cheat.
For the first time, I finally feel a little smart when it comes to math. If only it could last.
—”Maintain Consciousness,” Mmhmm: Relient K
So, I spent Saturday afternoon at the library, avoiding work on the essay I turned in last night.
It’s all the library’s fault really. They had Wi-Fi. For free! It’s a recent addition, since when I was there last month they didn’t have it. So, I spent the afternoon surfing the internet on my laptop, instead of actually doing research.
I had claimed a table for myself, and spread all my crap all over the place. It was interesting, because at the next table a high school male was working on his research for the Civil War. It really made me feel bad, because I didn’t have a single library book around me, while his table was littered with them. He was filling out note cards willy-nilly, and while I did sketch out an outline of my paper when I first sat down, seeing his note cards made me really want some of my own.
At the table in front of me, there was an elderly gentleman, who—I’m not kidding—looked like Mark Twain. He had the longer gray hair, the bushy mustache, and the requisite white suit. Come to think of it, he looked remarkably like Colonel Sanders, as well. He was working on some documents, filling them out and such, so I don’t think he notices me looking at him too much.
The library is always filled with interesting people. For example, there was the boy using the computers, who had his mum looking over his shoulder the entire time. Research-Boy had his mum helping him as well. There was the elderly couple looking up things and ignoring each other the entire time. And the kids trying to find books in the adult section.
I do enjoy the library, and don’t get to go there nearly often enough.
Oh, and checking my email Sunday night revealed a multitude of of classmates doing the same essay I am, and needing responses to their questions. What I thought was funny was that they waited until Friday night to send them out, they only included two questions, and they copied them off the prompt. I had at least two emails where the content was exactly the same. I didn’t answer them because:
- The waited till the last minute, and I checked my email at 11pm Sunday night. The paper was supposed to be due by midnight, but my teacher gave us a few extra days. Good thing I didn’t know that ahead of time, or I wouldn’t have done my paper when I did.
- They should have come up with their own questions. It’s lame using the ones you’re supposed to answer with the prompt. My questions were lame, too, I know. But, I made them up my self.
- I’m doing the same prompt. I’m not helping out other people when I’m writing the same paper, and I want an A. Yeah. I’m mean like that.
So, yeah, I spent last night writing the paper, and it’s not due until Tuesday now. Now I have two more days to stress over how bad it is, even though I don’t care, and will still get a really good grade no matter how badly I do. But I hate stressing about it.
—”Crooked Teath,” Plans: Death Cab For Cutie
So, I think my sister is mad at me.
We were talking over AIM last night, and she was lamenting over the belief that one of her teachers would fail her since she missed five classes.
I don’t believe the teacher will fail her, but K probably won’t believe me, so in turn, she probably won’t turn in her paper, which will cause her to fail. It’s a cycle she likes to put herself in.
She’s been trying to convince me for a month now that next semester she’ll take my Math class online, and I’ll take an English class for her. However, I finally gave her a complete and definite no, which was the same answer it was going to be all along.
K didn’t like that I pointed out that she was lazy. Of the five times she’s missed class, I’m sure that none of them are for sickness. She has even more absences in her other classes. Which, I understand all to well. She just doesn’t care about school yet. I mean, she wants a degree, but it’s not important enough to put it first.
I was that way too, right out of high school. I had a car, and was responsible for the first time in getting myself to school on time. Which inevitably meant that I didn’t go to school, or left early when I did.
When I dropped out, I didn’t miss school much. I was working full time, and moved out six months later, so school was on the back burner indefinitely. It took another two years to decide to go back, because I wasn’t going to go back without having a major to declare.
I have missed very few classes this last year, which is most likely do to the lack of a car. I am a slave to the lightrail. But, also, I like my classes (well, except for math), and I can’t imagine missing English. And all this work shows in my grades. I write crap papers and get A’s. I do horrible on Math tests, and am still pulling a B.
I think that K just needs to figure out where school fits into her life. It obviously isn’t a priority—not that it has to be. And I do feel bad. If she does fail this class, she’ll have to take the lower form, and that won’t be any fun at all.
— “All the Small Things,” Enema of the State: Blink 182
How many times can I say “contraries” in one paragraph without fully understanding what it means? A lot, apparently. And, I’m shocked that I can spell words that I’m not quite sure of the meaning of. I mean, allegories? Who doesn’t have to look that word up to make sure they’re using it correctly. Don’t answer that.
This round of essays sucked so hard. So unbelievably bad. I didn’t know I could write such utter and absolute crap. I am almost sure that the Hamlet essay I wrote senior year in high school was better than the one I turned in Tuesday. And my Brit Lit paper, I think, didn’t answer the most important question of the prompt, which I couldn’t formulate a coherent answer for. Also, no external sources used, which mean I had to make up this crap all on my own. At least there’s no chance of her thinking that I plagiarized, it’s that bad.
The really really sad thing is that I actually did sit down and do an outline for the essay before I started. Granted, I did it right before the essay, when if I had done it a few weeks ago, I would have had plenty of time to do some actual research. I am a bit shocked that I remembered how to do an outline, I haven’t done one in so long. When I post the essay, I’ll be sure to scan in the outline as well, so everyone can see how I kinda-sorta followed it, but not really.
However, the outlining process leads me to believe it’s not all bad, and I’ll probably try to do it again on the last of my essays. Why I didn’t think of this approach 16 weeks ago, I have no idea. Oh, yeah, because I keep getting the easy A’s, that’s why. I should probably stop depending on those if I plan on transferring next year.
And the worst part has to be that it’s the same teacher, so she’ll get to see me suck it on all levels. I’m almost afraid of the final in Brit Lit now, because I have no idea what it is going to be on, and the in class essays are always harder than the take home ones. Which makes no sense to me at all.
The only good thing that comes from my being done is that there are only two essays left in the term. On in ENGWR 301, on Frankenstein, and the one on education that I’m asking everyone for their help on. Because I really am going to have to use outside sources for that one.
All this crappy essay writing has left me tired beond all belief. I’m still exhausted, even though I managed to get to bed before midnight last night. And I had to bring my laptop to school this morning to bring you this blog post update. Which makes my backpack super heavy, as my Brit Lit book weighs just as much as my laptop.
At least it’s sunny and warm out, which should keep me from trying to sleep durring the day. I have four Math assignments due tomorrow, which I haven’t started because of the essays. I’ll be just as exausted tommorow, as well. Thank god it’ll be Friday, though. That’s the only good thing about the end of the week.
—”Build God, Then We’ll Talk,” A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out: Panic! At the Disco.
