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 :(