Today felt so long. It was a good day, and I got a lot done, but I'm so tired now.
It's not raining anymore... it rained every day I went to work except today :/ I like the rain, so I'm kinda bummed, but not too bad. I ate WAY too many sweets... ack, and I know better after my nutrition class last semester. I have to make cookies and biscotti tomorrow still, hopefully I will have some finished to give away.
I finished making a bunch of jewelry yesterday, so that was good. I've got quite a few presents completed. There's a few people I need to finish up presents for, but other than that we're set. My parent's presents turned out well so far :D They are a surprise, though... so I can't say anything until after Christmas.
I am loaded with Starbucks stuff. I have four giftcards, and someone from 4-H gave me and my sister a 12-pack of those bottled Starbucks. I love coffee. Actually, I think I like flavoring and chocolate and whipped cream and sugar; but when it's added to coffee, I like coffee ^^ Kind of like how if you like milk chocolate you like sugar, but if you like dark chocolate you actually like chocolate. *Guilty*. I like milk chocolate.
I was thinking of hanging out at Starbucks one of these days and bringing some of my drawings to work on. Seems like it might be fun. My sister could go, too. I like the atmosphere. And the coffee.
I want to go to a bookstore, too. School has done terrible things to me; reading for fun is a chore now because I'm used to zipping through textbooks and digesting necessary information without really enjoying the process. I'm STILL in War and Peace, looks like that will take me a good while still ;) I love C.S. Lewis, too. I still like Robin McKinley, though her books get a little too predictable. There is a book that I really want, but I think my mom's getting it for me for Christmas. It's called 'Band of Sisters', and is a collection of true stories about the women fighting in Iraq. I read the first few pages, it looks interesting. I don't know if I can wait until Christmas...
I still cannot get over the fact that school is done. I mean, I'm going back the first week of January, but I keep spazzing out because I feel like I'm forgetting classes and assignments. I miss it :( I'm taking a "dining room service and management" class in January, strictly because I needed three more credits if I didn't want to take six classes my Spring semester (nooo wayyy).
Math. Oh, math class. How I loathed thee. Math and I have never gotten along well. Numbers are fine, geometry was great, algebra... no. My speech class was the most physically challenging; this class was the most mentally challenging. I don't get numbers like I get words. I'm not a math person, I'm an english person. My brain balks at fractions and equations, and... ugh. Just not good.
It was just college algebra. I remember studying for the assessment test two years ago so I could get into college algebra without taking the preliminary classes (took three tests; the first two times I took the wrong tests!). I passed the third time and qualified for college algebra... by one point. I was not thrilled.
After realizing during the first day of class that I really was back in an algebra class, and that I would be stuck in it for sixteen weeks, I knew I'd have to work hard to pass. I HATE math tests, mostly because you can have a problem with twenty steps - but if you mess up one step out of those twenty, your answer is completely wrong. Blah. Fortunately for me, our teacher wouldn't give us a zero unless we messed the entire thing up or didn't try. That was the only way I made it.
Now, this probably wasn't one of the most challenging college algebra classes out there, and even the college algebra level isn't exactly tough... but, like I said, I don't get math.
I remember getting freaked out one time because my teacher gave me a test back, and it had a score of 40 (out of 100), and I thought I was busted. I looked at the name, and it wasn't mine. Phew! So close... the first and last name were similar to mine, but the test wasn't mine.
So it all came down to the final. Homework was easy, quizzes were so-so, tests were slightly curved. The final was worth the most points. I studied for that things for about six hours the day before, putting together a 'mock test' with sample questions he had given us (for extra credit), and working out problems from our former tests with the numbers changed. Only problem was, when you change numbers in some types of equations, they don't really work out so well. That was fun. My poor brain was a bowl of mush after that, numbers flooded behind my eyes and streamed out of my ears. I was so done with it after that. No more was going to go in my head, my brain was full.
So I slept.
But the numbers stayed in my head. Even when I woke up, I was working through problems in my head. I was reasoning in numbers, and setting up equations for the situations I ran into during my daily life. I wondered how hot my coffee was, and how concentrated; and how much creamer I would have to add to bring it down to such-and-such a temperature and such-and-such a level of concentration. Scenes from 'A Beautiful Mind' flashed by in my head.
Lol, the only other time I can think of offhand that something like that happened was after reading a book by Dorothy Sayers, "Gaudy Night" in two days (it's 500 pages or something like that - oh the joy of being a procrastinator, and in Inklings :). The moment I finished it I went to sleep, and for the next few days I was spewing Sayers-like vocabulary. It was weird. Then again, Torrey will do that to you...
Anyways, the studying must have payed off, because my test score was the highest in the class. No way. I was shocked. I still don't know how it ended up that way. I'm just thankful to have survived, and made it through in one piece! I have a little more respect and tolerance for algebra now, and even, perhaps, a little bit of interest and enjoyment in solving a problem :D There was this one problem on the test where we needed to solve the problem, then use a specific process to show the answer was correct. Well, for all the math-related stuff swirling around in my head, I couldn't remember the steps. I tried, but I knew I wasn't getting it right. So, I started the steps, then at the bottom re-wrote the answer, and put I'm not sure exactly how... but eventually the above problem will equal (answer). Yeah, I don't think I got points for that one! It reminded me of all those awesome math test answers (or lack thereof) that are out there... such as (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_MV3xfUtCJI-qCIyo4XNhKj4MqeMAKv0owSTN0Q87celItLQ3Rv-gpze95pfAt2U7VsYgTP622jdnxbe4zQrTu_mMB9ZKiFFpXV9uIIMbwn3FmmEUandZJ8hkjEu98Cjif6Qw4YqXqE/s1600-h/funny-science-test-answer3.jpg) and "find the x"(http://laughlines.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/weisenheimer-101/). Brilliant minds at work there.
Ah. I'm still tired. I still need to go to sleep. I find it ironic that, while in school, I always look forward to breaks and vacations so I can catch up on sleep - and yet, when I'm on breaks and vacations, I stay up later than ever! Mostly because I write, but during this time of year it's also because I'm busy getting presents together :)
I can tell, this blog is really going to help me work on my addiction to writing...
Yeah right.
Merry Christmas!
-MEEE
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
First!
So. My first post on a brand-new blog...
I had a xanga, I've had a livejournal, and I've had these kind of blogs before (blogger), and I really just like the simplicity of Blogger. Xanga confused me, but then again most myspace/facebook/xanga type deals do. I usually end up hitting the wrong buttons or keys and mess up my page or send messages to people that I didn't mean to. Blogger is not as confusing, it's much more straightforward. I like that.
Most of my other blogs are guinea pig related (if you know me, you know how fanatical I am about them); my Xanga was an about-me blog, but I didn't like xanga. So I'm here now, and with a blog about random stuff, daily life, school, work, and everything inbetween. There will be occasional ramblings about guinea pig related things, I'm sure; but if you want the real deal, the GP blog is here -> http://storybookcavies.blogspot.com/
Also, I have several philosophy blogs floating around, LOL. My professor for philosophy warned us that those blogs would be around to haunt us for a long time. I was reading through some of my old posts on my philosophy blogs... oh man... it will haunt me! I guess it's a good thing that I can see all the problems in my reasoning now, because that means I've actually learned something... but still... and no, I'm not telling where they are XD I still have to track down one I lost track of...
So school. School is over. School... I'm gonna miss it. I love school. I know a few kids who do, though most don't. In high school I didn't care, my brain was elsewhere and I thought I had better things to do. Now though, I love it :) And school loves me, apparently, for I've been doing pretty well. Of course, it is a community college, and I've had my fair share of semi-pathetically easy classes, but at the end of the day I still learned. My favorite class this semester was by far the speech class. Just your basic general ed introduction to public speaking. I wish, though, that I had taken the full-semester class (I took a 'condensed' version, a semester in eight weeks), because it was over way too fast. The professor was awesome. The class drove me nuts because I HATE public speaking, but by the end of the class I was enjoying the challenge of fighting my nerves and pitting myself against the nausea. Ha. I tried SO HARD to get close to 100% on my last speeches, but that teacher was a really tough grader. That was why I liked it, though. I had some teachers this semester who seemed to hand out extra credit at every chance; some didn't even look over our major assignments, they just flipped through them and 'as long as we tried' they gave us full credit. I know where those teachers are coming from, trying to make everyone a winner, but I really dislike those classes. There is no challenge. I suppose the challenge would be to try to fail one of those classes, ha ha. The speech class though... if you come in late, even five minutes late, on the day people are giving speeches - there goes half of whatever grade you end up getting on that day's speech. Brutal. There are so many bad things you can do during a speech that will lower your grade, too... my first speech was pretty sad (in my opinion), I had the most faux pas, but I still got a decent grade. I learned what NOT to do that day, and the rest of my speeches were better from there.
We had to give six speeches; a how-to, a movie/music, informational, persuasive, impromptu, and a declamation. For my how-to, I did how to draw a horse. Thanks to four kids from church, I had 'before' and 'after' pictures to show the class. They were pretty hilarious.
"Before"
"After"
Pretty big difference, lol. The 'after' drawings took about fifteen minutes, too. By the way, the pink stains on the paper is some drink that spilled on it... oops...
For movie/music, I did 'Master and Commander', one of my favorite movies :) That went pretty well, nothing overly exciting, except I stood there watching the movie like a dork during my speech instead of describing it or gauging the audience's response.
The next speech was a declamation. I did Martin Luther's speech... I know I majorly failed in respect to making it sound as good as it should have, but it was an interesting speech to give, especially when everyone else was doing speeches by comedians and Bill Clinton. It was my lowest scoring speech, though only by one point, because I didn't put as much emphasis in it as I should have. What can I say? I can't act! That is why I am paranoid over skits and impromptus... eek...
After that we had persuasive speeches, mine was on 'why you should own a pet'. It was my first major speech, it was worth a big chunk of grade, and needed at least six citations in the speech. I memorized all of it. Most people couldn't survive without their notecards, but I find them annoying because they make me lose my spot. Still, I had two with my outline tucked in my waistband in case I forgot or drew a blank. I had to wear a suit, too, lol.
Then... ooh.... then, we had impromptus. ACK. I did extra credit that was worth the same amount of points as the impromptu, so if I *somehow* didn't show up to class that day, I'd still be ok... I was so nervous, I didn't want to go. I practiced with some example quotes we were given (the speeches were based on quotes) for hours, until I got a bit of a method down. In class, we pick a quote, and then we have five minutes to prepare our speech (three-part introduction, two major points, conclusion), using examples from movies/books/tv/etc. I got a quote from Calvin & Hobbes - "It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept." Strangely enough, it had been one of the quotes I had practiced at home. I did ok. I always went first on speech days (so I could get it over with!), and everyone ended up doing really well on the impromptus (probably because instead of some people preparing and some people winging it on the other speeches, everyone was winging it on this one ;).
The final speech was an informational speech, we had to introduce people to an aspect of a culture that would hopefully be new to everyone. My teacher said he had seen just about everything before, but I may have picked one that no one had done before. It was my favorite speech, I had the most fun with it. It was on the guinea pig in South American culture. In South America, guinea pigs are mini livestock (aka, food). I had some photos of fried guinea pig thighs, lol, it looked like chicken. The response from the other students was hilarious. That was definately my best speech. Like I tell some people, I won't eat my own pets, but still, I might try guinea pig if I ever went to Peru...
So. That was my favorite class, maybe for my whole time at the college so far. After the class I was told that I was one of the best speakers in the classes that professor had taught, and was encouraged to join the forensics team. I can't, because they have competitions on Sundays, but it was nice to get that affirmation, to know that I ended up doing ok in a subject that used to completely petrify me.
As far as favorite classes, I had two English classes that are close rivals, but this speech class was pretty awesome too. All the classes I have really enjoyed are the tough ones, the ones where the students pretty much dislike the teachers (and only because the professors stick to their guns, require assignments when they are due, and teach/grade on a higher than high school level). I love a challenge. I am looking forward very much to transferring, though - I know Master's is a much higher level, and look forward to pitting myself against the work. Who knows, I may even join the speech team or somethin...
So. How's that for rambling? I think I get an A+ for that. Ha ha. I just like to write...
Next time, about my math class! Lol. That will be much shorter...
I've got to go finish Christmas presents. I'm finishing making some jewelry, some rice bags (you know, those things you heat up in the microwave that you can put around your neck or use to keep your feet warm), and probably some biscotti or something. This Christmas I am so disorganized... I've got to get on the ball and finish! Today will be major present-making day. If I can stop writing. That is questionable.
Ah, I will go now.
Enjoy some photos from our recent trip to AZ. I wants a better camera :(
I had a xanga, I've had a livejournal, and I've had these kind of blogs before (blogger), and I really just like the simplicity of Blogger. Xanga confused me, but then again most myspace/facebook/xanga type deals do. I usually end up hitting the wrong buttons or keys and mess up my page or send messages to people that I didn't mean to. Blogger is not as confusing, it's much more straightforward. I like that.
Most of my other blogs are guinea pig related (if you know me, you know how fanatical I am about them); my Xanga was an about-me blog, but I didn't like xanga. So I'm here now, and with a blog about random stuff, daily life, school, work, and everything inbetween. There will be occasional ramblings about guinea pig related things, I'm sure; but if you want the real deal, the GP blog is here -> http://storybookcavies.blogspot.com/
Also, I have several philosophy blogs floating around, LOL. My professor for philosophy warned us that those blogs would be around to haunt us for a long time. I was reading through some of my old posts on my philosophy blogs... oh man... it will haunt me! I guess it's a good thing that I can see all the problems in my reasoning now, because that means I've actually learned something... but still... and no, I'm not telling where they are XD I still have to track down one I lost track of...
So school. School is over. School... I'm gonna miss it. I love school. I know a few kids who do, though most don't. In high school I didn't care, my brain was elsewhere and I thought I had better things to do. Now though, I love it :) And school loves me, apparently, for I've been doing pretty well. Of course, it is a community college, and I've had my fair share of semi-pathetically easy classes, but at the end of the day I still learned. My favorite class this semester was by far the speech class. Just your basic general ed introduction to public speaking. I wish, though, that I had taken the full-semester class (I took a 'condensed' version, a semester in eight weeks), because it was over way too fast. The professor was awesome. The class drove me nuts because I HATE public speaking, but by the end of the class I was enjoying the challenge of fighting my nerves and pitting myself against the nausea. Ha. I tried SO HARD to get close to 100% on my last speeches, but that teacher was a really tough grader. That was why I liked it, though. I had some teachers this semester who seemed to hand out extra credit at every chance; some didn't even look over our major assignments, they just flipped through them and 'as long as we tried' they gave us full credit. I know where those teachers are coming from, trying to make everyone a winner, but I really dislike those classes. There is no challenge. I suppose the challenge would be to try to fail one of those classes, ha ha. The speech class though... if you come in late, even five minutes late, on the day people are giving speeches - there goes half of whatever grade you end up getting on that day's speech. Brutal. There are so many bad things you can do during a speech that will lower your grade, too... my first speech was pretty sad (in my opinion), I had the most faux pas, but I still got a decent grade. I learned what NOT to do that day, and the rest of my speeches were better from there.
We had to give six speeches; a how-to, a movie/music, informational, persuasive, impromptu, and a declamation. For my how-to, I did how to draw a horse. Thanks to four kids from church, I had 'before' and 'after' pictures to show the class. They were pretty hilarious.
"Before"
"After"
Pretty big difference, lol. The 'after' drawings took about fifteen minutes, too. By the way, the pink stains on the paper is some drink that spilled on it... oops...
For movie/music, I did 'Master and Commander', one of my favorite movies :) That went pretty well, nothing overly exciting, except I stood there watching the movie like a dork during my speech instead of describing it or gauging the audience's response.
The next speech was a declamation. I did Martin Luther's speech... I know I majorly failed in respect to making it sound as good as it should have, but it was an interesting speech to give, especially when everyone else was doing speeches by comedians and Bill Clinton. It was my lowest scoring speech, though only by one point, because I didn't put as much emphasis in it as I should have. What can I say? I can't act! That is why I am paranoid over skits and impromptus... eek...
After that we had persuasive speeches, mine was on 'why you should own a pet'. It was my first major speech, it was worth a big chunk of grade, and needed at least six citations in the speech. I memorized all of it. Most people couldn't survive without their notecards, but I find them annoying because they make me lose my spot. Still, I had two with my outline tucked in my waistband in case I forgot or drew a blank. I had to wear a suit, too, lol.
Then... ooh.... then, we had impromptus. ACK. I did extra credit that was worth the same amount of points as the impromptu, so if I *somehow* didn't show up to class that day, I'd still be ok... I was so nervous, I didn't want to go. I practiced with some example quotes we were given (the speeches were based on quotes) for hours, until I got a bit of a method down. In class, we pick a quote, and then we have five minutes to prepare our speech (three-part introduction, two major points, conclusion), using examples from movies/books/tv/etc. I got a quote from Calvin & Hobbes - "It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept." Strangely enough, it had been one of the quotes I had practiced at home. I did ok. I always went first on speech days (so I could get it over with!), and everyone ended up doing really well on the impromptus (probably because instead of some people preparing and some people winging it on the other speeches, everyone was winging it on this one ;).
The final speech was an informational speech, we had to introduce people to an aspect of a culture that would hopefully be new to everyone. My teacher said he had seen just about everything before, but I may have picked one that no one had done before. It was my favorite speech, I had the most fun with it. It was on the guinea pig in South American culture. In South America, guinea pigs are mini livestock (aka, food). I had some photos of fried guinea pig thighs, lol, it looked like chicken. The response from the other students was hilarious. That was definately my best speech. Like I tell some people, I won't eat my own pets, but still, I might try guinea pig if I ever went to Peru...
So. That was my favorite class, maybe for my whole time at the college so far. After the class I was told that I was one of the best speakers in the classes that professor had taught, and was encouraged to join the forensics team. I can't, because they have competitions on Sundays, but it was nice to get that affirmation, to know that I ended up doing ok in a subject that used to completely petrify me.
As far as favorite classes, I had two English classes that are close rivals, but this speech class was pretty awesome too. All the classes I have really enjoyed are the tough ones, the ones where the students pretty much dislike the teachers (and only because the professors stick to their guns, require assignments when they are due, and teach/grade on a higher than high school level). I love a challenge. I am looking forward very much to transferring, though - I know Master's is a much higher level, and look forward to pitting myself against the work. Who knows, I may even join the speech team or somethin...
So. How's that for rambling? I think I get an A+ for that. Ha ha. I just like to write...
Next time, about my math class! Lol. That will be much shorter...
I've got to go finish Christmas presents. I'm finishing making some jewelry, some rice bags (you know, those things you heat up in the microwave that you can put around your neck or use to keep your feet warm), and probably some biscotti or something. This Christmas I am so disorganized... I've got to get on the ball and finish! Today will be major present-making day. If I can stop writing. That is questionable.
Ah, I will go now.
Enjoy some photos from our recent trip to AZ. I wants a better camera :(
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