In lieu of my regular blog post, and because I’m beginning to have nightmares about all the essays I have coming due, I am pleading for your help.
In my 302 class (English 1C), I have to write a 6-7 page paper on how education (high school, college) is depicted in film, and how that differs from reality. To help me, what I really need is to have numerous people fill out a small survey.
The films I am using for my paper are 10 Things I Hate About You, Legally Blonde, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (if I can rent it somewhere). However, you don’t have to have seen these movies to answer these questions, so please, if you’re attending college, have attended college, or are thinking about attending college sometime before you die, please take pity on me and answer my questions!
Please please pretty pretty please? With a cherry on top?
Alright. Thanks. I owe you one. And if you have a questionnaire , I am so there to fill it out for you.
- Before you entered college / high school, which movie (can be any one you’ve ever seen) did you most associate with how college / high school would be once you arrived?
- Why?
- Were you disappointed if your ideal didn’t match up with the reality of college / high school?
- Were there any parts of “film life” that matched up with real life?
- Anything else you’d like to add?
To answer the questions, don’t bother rewriting the questions (I know it sounds lame to actually have to state that, but I would do it, so I don’t doubt others would too). Either leave your responses in the comments, or drop me a line at lisa@unsympathetic.net.
If I use your responses, I’ll email you and let you know, because I will need a little bit of info to fill out my “Works Cited.” And as always, I’ll be posting the essay as soon as it’s done, so anyone can read it.
Thank you so much for your help!
K's attempt to help me with my homework.
I was slaving away at my math homework last night, and I feel like I’m not getting anywhere. I think I’ll need some tutoring this next week to catch up, since I missed class last Friday, and I know we’ll have a test this next week, if not today.
And I feel like I’m so behind. I’m not following quietly along, and I do worry that some how I’m going to bomb this last third of the semester, and fail the class. Which will really suck, because I don’t want to have to take this class again.
So, here’s an example of a math problem that I had to do last night:
The sum of two numbers is 20, and the sum of their squares is 218. Find the number.
The written math portion you see is done by my sister (my hand writing isn’t that bubbly – she helped me over AIM), and she lost me from the beginning. I’m supposed to solve this problem with a quadratic equation, and not with using Y. The biggest problem I have is that I already know the answer, and I can’t get the problem to fit into my solution.
I worked it out on my own, but I got to the end, and didn’t know how to factor it out to get the answer that I knew was waiting there for me. Then K double checked my work, saw that I was a moron and corrected it, and finally, I could figure out the problem all the way to the end. It took me two hours to get this problem right. And, it’s not even a hard problem.
I really dislike math. I wish I could just skip it, or fake it or something. Or, at least have notes when I take tests. Because then I could do an example of each type of problem that could possibly appear on the test. Like I’m ever going to do a problem without referencing a book.
- “Like a California King, ” So Much For the Afterglow: Everclear
Whew. I’m done with the essay.
When I went to turn it in (online class), it turns out that I had until tomorrow night to finish it. It’s a good thing I didn’t know that, though, or I would have put off writing it until tomorrow.
Logging on to Blackboard, I also found out that I was a week behind in my thinking. I thought I was still in week 9, when really, it was week 10. Which meant I missed the online lesson for the week. Good thing it’s the first one I’ve missed, and that online lessons only account for 20% of the grade.
Anyway, I am sure that everyone is so excited to read this piece of crap essay—”California’s Flaky Image.”
The essay is an evaluation of an article found in our reader, but it should be available online (I don’t know why the Sacramento Bee doesn’t list it no matter how I search) It’s called “We’re Only Confirming California’s Flaky Image,” written by Anita Creamer. It was originally published on August 13, 2003, in the Sacramento Bee, and is about the recall election.
I didn’t really want to do this essay, and I feel that it is utter crap. I hate evaluating things, and this essay was torture. But, it’s done now, and I can move onto the next one.
But I’m spending the rest of evening playing with my new toy. Perhaps there’ll be a podcast in the next week.
—”Don’t Stay,” Meteora: Linkin Park
Just taking a break from my never ending essay… I’m about half done, and I’m afraid I may have run out of things to talk about.
Anyway, on my break, I made a Wal-Mart run, and picked up and “Internet Chat Headset” by Logitech, and if I can get it to work, you all can be looking forward to unsympathetic podcasts in the future.
I am actually quite delighted with the headset, and I haven’t even plugged it in yet. Wal-Mart didn’t have much of a selection for computer microphones, and this was the only good one they had (the others were the old boom mics, which sit really far away from you). I thought I was going to have to shell out $25, which I was willing to do, but it rang up at $17, so I am a bit excited.
Oh, look at the time… Back to the grindstone for me. I’ll post the essay as soon as I’m done with it, so that everyone can tell me how crappy it is.
—”Am I Missing,” A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar: Dashboard Confessional
It’s been such an exciting week around here… Not.
I took a Math test on Wednesday, and I am so absolutely positive I failed. I spent an hour and a half doing 12 math problems, and about half of them came out with “no solution” for me. There is no way my teacher put that many unanswerable questions on the test. Maybe one problem. Not six.
And I don’t understand why I don’t understand it. I mean, I do understand it, but I do so horribly on the tests. I did all the homework, and did great on them. I had no problem doing the problems in class, but give me a little pressure, and I cave like a wet cardboard box. It’s just so frustrating, because I really want to do well, and I just feel horrible when I know I did badly.
Aside from my mathematical problems, schools going eh (please imaging that with a shoulder shrug done by a goth-punk fifteen year old, as when asked the same question by a parent.) I have the equivalent of an essay due a week for the rest of the semester. Oh, boy am I looking forward to writing those.
Apparently I was wrong about the California essay. I get to throw out all my research, which is great, since I hadn’t read any of it yet. I’m writing an essay that evaluates an essay in the book. I missed the mark entirely, which for once is a good thing. Especially since the essay is due on Saturday at midnight. Which, in its self is probably a good thing, because I wouldn’t want to write an essay Wednesday night, and then again Thursday night, since I have another essay due next week. On poetry. I suppose I had better pick the poems.
Other than school work, nothing. I’ve been putting off the laundry as usual. I’m sure I’ll get it done tomorrow as I clean my room in avoidance of actually writing the essay.
Yep, I’m sure that I’ll waste nearly all my time tomorrow, and end up pushing five pages out an hour before the paper is due. I love procrastination, don’t you?
—”Reinventing The Wheel To Run Myself Over,” Take This To Your Grave: Fall Out Boy
If anyone’s be watching my del.icio.us links, they might notice that I’ve bookmarked the most boring websites ever. They’re all about California, voter apathy, and the political circus that envelopes our golden state.
Really, I’ve just been doing research. I have two papers due next week, one which is on California, as usual. I am actually getting a head start on my research. And geese do I hate research.
It’s not that I hate research, exactly. I actually like looking things up and finding things out. But I hate having to decide what is important enough to put in the essay. And what should be left on the cutting room floor.
Anyway, the paper, if you couldn’t tell, is on voter apathy in California, and how people generally do not pay any attention to politics unless it has become a political three-ring circus, complete with a strong man and midget. While I do believe in what I’m writing about, I really have no interest in writing about it. But, such is the way school works out.
This is all really besides the point, since I wanted to write about how I am going about my research. To begin with, I am marking all the seemingly relevant sites I run across with del.icio.us (obviously). I have set up a tag bundle, to keep all the related tags together, so that I’ll be able to find what I’m looking for later in the week. If you’re interested, the tag bundle for this writing assignment is a boring “W.A.2″. Guess what the initials stand for?
Also, I’m using Google alerts in conjunction with my gmail account, to monitor the latest web postings for certain key phrases, such as California voter statistics, California elections, and California voter apathy. It’s handy, because once a day I’ll get an email for each phrase, giving me the most recent links. Very handy, since now I don’t have search the news everyday to find articles that might be interesting.
Finally, I ran across a really interesting site called Questia. It’s a large online library, which when you enter in a search term, it spits out a list of suggested books and articles. The paid version of the site allows the searcher to actually read the book or article, while the free version just lists the books/articles. The free version is still genius, because it gives you a great starting point to look for things in the local library. Especially since I never seem to find what I’m searching for using the library’s online catalog.
Well, that’s all I have for research tonight. At the moment, I’m listening to Binary Bonsai podcast #2, and damn Michael makes me laugh. I love listening to the Danish talk, and he has the perfect Danish accent. It’s there, but not overpowering. And seriously, he makes me laugh. I’d like to think if we met we’d get along great, although his being a well known blogger just puts him in a sphere so far above me.
Anyway… Back to the grindstone.
—”And I so Hate Consequences,” Mmhmm: Relient K
Things that I have that I don’t use:
- Dayplanner
- Palmpilot
- Sunbird
I try so hard to stay organized. I try so hard to schedule things so that I don’t run out of time. But, I just hate doing it. The palmpilot is so, so old. I bought it right after high school. Just starting college and the like, and I thought it would be nifty to stay organized in the most geeky way possible. So, it only lasted a few months, if that.
While I had (and still do have) the palmpilot, I was still way, way too attracted to a paper dayplanner. I don’t know what it is. I just love to write in them. So, at the beginning of last semester, I forked out $20 for one I liked, intending to use it to write down when quizzes/tests/homework was due. That only lasted until September. The moment the teachers got behind schedule, my schedule was wrong. And I stopped using it.
This semester, I downloaded Sunbird, intending to use it to stay on top of things. It only lasted two weeks. It’s missing a basic functionality that I was too lazy to work around. There is no way to assign to-do items to a specific day (as in, make it show up on the calendar as well as in the to-do list.
I realize there is an easy work-around, by making those to-do items an event, but really, I just didn’t care.
But, with the middle of the semester bearing down fast, and multiple essays coming due, I figure I had better give it another chance. After all, I am classically-trained to believe that I have a week longer than I really do to finish things up.
I was talking to N a few weeks ago, during the course of a work day. I don’t know how she does it, but she’s secretary for two of the busiest lawyers at a large law firm here in town, as well as a full-time student over at Sac State (English major, naturally). We were discussing ways to stay organized, because as English majors we tend to have multiple essays due right after one another.
She was telling me how on her new laptop she was using Outlook to create alarms that would pop up when she had two weeks/a week/ two days/ one day left to finish the paper, so that she couldn’t forget when it was due, and she’d remember to do it.
Since I spend so much time on my computer, I realized that it is a genius idea. Sunbird has alarms, so I’m going to try to start using it to remind myself when things are due.
So we’ll see. Besides, I have two weeks until the next round of essays are due… I think.
—I am sure someone really famous said this first, but my uncle says it all the time (and still, I can’t remember what the 7th “p” is supposed to be, as he refers to it as the “Seven Ps.”)
Just taking a short break from my never-ending Algebra homework because, well, I need it.
I sat down to do my homework at 7 p.m. (missing NCIS, damn it), and I’m still not done. I started with an easy ENGWR 302 assignment, and then moved on to Algebra. And am still on Algebra. I have five more problems I have to do. And then I have to copy everything to regular binder paper because I’m sure that my teacher won’t accept scanned notebook pages.
Perhaps I should ask though, because he’s one of those teachers who learns to recognize people’s handwriting, and by this point in the semester he probably recognizes mine.
Anyway, since I set myself up for this huge overload of homework by getting sick Saturday night (which lasted through today), I had three assignments to do, Friday’s (2) and Mondays (2, but one isn’t due until this next Friday).
Yep, so, I know no one cares. I just had to take a break. And well, I realized that I hadn’t posted since Friday, which is like forever in blog-land.
So, I’ve been sick with the stomach flu—gotta love all that puking—and then trying to play homework catch-up. Hopefully, I’ll have something of substance for tomorrow. Maybe.
—”Calm Before the Storm,” Take This to Your Grave: Fall Out Boy
I received the grade for my essay (the one I posted earlier), and I am shocked that I got an A. I didn’t really think I wrote it out that well, I didn’t do anything that I talked about in my paper outline, and I didn’t find any reference material that was outside of the course book.
I don’t know if I should be pleased that I write better than I think I do, or be worried that my writing still won’t be up to snuff when I transfer. If I transfer.
I was not—and still am not—happy with this essay. Perhaps it is because I dislike the subject matter. California has never held much interest for me. I love Sacramento, and I love San Francisco, but California as a whole is not something I think about too much. And maybe that makes me small minded, or close minded. But I think more about where I want to live instead of where I’m living.
The next paper for this class is on the mis-management of California. I suppose I should get a start on it, if I’m going to write a paper that I like. I think this next one is due at the end of March.
—”Lights and Sounds,” Lights and Sounds: Yellowcard
I really need to get my shit together. Right this minute, I should be working on my English essay. It’s due tonight at midnight, and I’m only half done. Instead, I’m writing this, surfing the web, and listening to Crafty Chica’s podcast. The only thing that bothers me about iTunes integrated podcast-thingy? That it doesn’t give me the option to automatically download previous casts, all in one lump sum…. Oh, wait, I just figured it out.
Anyway, this essay that I should be writing but am not, is supposed to be about California. More specifically, it is about the paradox between the California Dream, and the reality of California. The problem I’m having is that being a native of California, born right here in the central valley, I have no insight on what the dream really is. For me, the dream is just to get out. To go see the world, and live somewhere new and different. I don’t understand why people would still choose to move to this state. It’s just a big let down. You think it’s going to be some big wonderful adventure, and instead it’s the land of high gas prices and suburbia. Everything is more expensive here, and still hardly anyone can afford it.
Did I mention I’m trying to avoid my math homework? I have no idea how many assignments I have to do, and I’m not sure if there is a test tomorrow or not, seeing as how we had Friday and Monday off for holiday (okay, I’m not sure why we had Friday off). Algebra is so not my cup of tea. We had a quiz last Wednesday, and I know I did one problem horrifically wrong, but I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. I didn’t figure out how to fix it until after time was up, and I was on the lightrail train back to work.
Update: I’ve finished my essay (and the math, yippy!). It is quite possibly the worst essay I’ve ever written in my life. If you would like to read it, feel free: California: Possibility and Disappointment (pdf file – don’t steal my work). If you notice discrepancy, unfinished thoughts, and the like, let me know. I get to redo one essay a semester, and I feel that this is it. Besides, it’s never good if you’ve started drinking to mask how much you hate the paper, before you’ve even written the conclusion. After I turned this one in, the assignment for the second essay was available. I really don’t want to write about the mismanagement of California.
- “Californication,” Californication: Red Hot Chilli Peppers
