Same Old Story

So I'm definitely glad that I checked the syllabus for my Lit/Cultures class. Apparently there was some reading to do for tomorrow, and the movie needs to be watched for next week. Or one of the next few classes anyway. Unless he combined some of the lessons and I misunderstood.

That's possible of course.

At any rate I have managed to get half of the reading done, and will hopefully have the other half read before I decide to get some sleep. I think I've studied enough for my JRN 108 exam in the morning. It's all multiple choice, so it should be fine.

In fact, I am very close to having things squared away for the break. I think that by Monday night I should have everything caught up to a degree.

Laundry definitely took longer earlier than I was anticipating. Thursday seems to be a popular laundry day. But at least I've got that out of the way. I just really want to have things caught up before going home for Thanksgiving. I'm excited about getting to go home and hang out with my family, especially since last time I was home I was so sick.

That was awful, though I guess if you're going to be miserably sick that home is the place to be.

No Homework?

My goal is to be caught up with homework to the point that I won't have to bother with it over break. The idea of being able to go home and not have to give school a second thought is incredibly appealing. Especially since it is so hard to get motivated to work on homework when I'm at home anyway.

As I write this I'm sitting in Lit/Cultures and am so lost. I miss calculated what I needed to read in order to be prepared for class today. We're talking about subcultures, but the way that the prof is trying to present the idea isn't very effectively spurring conversation. That is the way that class usually goes though, so I'm not certain why it's surprising every time.

Thankfully all we have to do for Friday is watch a movie. That will be simple enough, or at least it should be.

When I wrote the above earlier I didn't know yet what I wanted to write my final out of class article on for my JRN 200 class. I just finished filling out the tip sheet though, so hopefully that goes well. At any rate I've written down an idea. I'm much further along than I was.

Things To Do

I bought the new FlyLeaf CD earlier today! It is awesome, I'm really enjoying it.

I seriously need to get some reading done for class tomorrow, but it's reading for Economics so I'm really not motivated to go about doing so. Then of course there is the continued drama at home. Can I say, for the record, that my sister is being a moron.

You can not throw around the fact that you are thirty-seven years old and then act the way that she is. It is not acceptable to act like a juvenile and then expect the people around you to take you seriously. Not to mention that she is completely taking for granted everything that Dad has ever done for her. Dad has done nothing but support her and she's throwing all of that support down the drain.

It is unbelievably frustrating. I need to read.

Church

The sermon in church today was really good. It was all about how society tells us it's natural to rebel and how that idea is false. While we may be inclined to rebel to authority, it is actually God's wish that we be submissive. I liked how he made the point that that it is possible to rebel in a submissive way.

For instance you can break a rule in order to stand up to it, but when it comes time to receive punishment for breaking that rule it is important to than accept that punishment. In this way you are following and abiding by the law and yet at the same time pointing out that it is flawed.

Overall it was just a really interesting lecture. I think I like the idea of calling it a lecture more than a sermon. The word sermon just feels like it has a negative connotation associated with it. It seems to exude the idea that someone is preaching at you or down to you when that really isn't the case here.

Anyway, after church I hung out over at the girls house and then we ran some errands. I have a vague sense of what needs to be written for my paper, so we'll see what I can come up with tomorrow. It's due tomorrow at five but I'm really not overly worried about it. I'm doing well enough in that class I think.

Really that's my attitude at this point in the semester. I am doing well enough. Hopefully my estimation of the situation as it stands is true. Fingers crossed!

I've Got Time

Yesterday was a strange day. I definitely ended up sleeping much later into the day than I would have anticipated, but if I was that tired than it was needed and therefore a good thing. I managed to get my article for the SpartanEdge written last night, and sent it off this morning.

That was probably the most productive thing I did all day yesterday. But that is alright, sometimes you need days like that.

This morning I’m going to go to church with a couple friends, and then maybe tackle some of the reading that I’ve been putting off. I’ll manage to finish it eventually anyway. At least by the end of the week. Minimum.

Sarah told me yesterday that I’m not allowed to buy any new books between now and Christmas. That won’t be hard to do, since I already kind of told myself that I couldn’t. I have other obligations that have to come first.

Especially if I want to go to Mexico during spring break, like I said before I think that would be a really amazing opportunity. Most definitely a good use of my time.

Anyway, at some point I have to start writing my paper for my Lit/Cultures class to. Although he did cancel class for tomorrow, so… I’ve got some time.

Opportunities

I went and covered a lecture given by Karl Gude tonight for the SpartanEdge. I’ll set to writing the actual story tomorrow afternoon. I probably could have done it tonight, but my intention was to get some reading for class caught up.

Notice I say that was my intention… I let myself get a little distracted with the Internet. As helpful as the Internet can be at times, sometimes it is imperative to disconnect in order to get things accomplished.

I’ll get the reading that I need to do done; it’s just a matter of timing. I need to sit down with the intent to finish it, and then follow through on those intentions. It’ll happen, just not right this moment.

For the moment I can live with that reality. It’s my only option. Momentarily.

I’m considering going to Mexico for spring break. To phrase it differently, I would really like to go, but I need to discuss it with my dad. In general I am an adult, I can do as I please, but I feel like this is something that I need to get my parents used to.

It’s not just an idol visit to Mexico though. I’d be going with the group from His House, and we’d be building a house for people who don’t have one. It would be really similar to the mission trips that I went on in middle school, and in general it just sounds awesome.

It sounds like a worthwhile way to spend spring break, and I have said that I want to start getting into more volunteer work. Like I said, I’ve just got to approach my dad about it. I know he worries, and I’m not saying that he doesn’t have the right to, but the opportunity here… It would be an amazing opportunity, I guess that’s what I’m saying.

NANOWRIMO!

NANOWRIMO starts tomorrow, and that makes me a little nervous. This is the first year that I've decided to actually participate in NANOWRIMO. Can I manage to finish writing a novel in a month? We shall see!

I don't know though. Lately I've felt a little buried in homework, and I'm thinking that adding to this a novel writing goal, plus my blog is going to up the stress level a bit. Although, there is also the potential for writing a novel to be a destessor too. Hopefully novel writing proves to be my destressor and not an added stressor. Fingers crossed!

Sarah is coming up to visit this week, and I'm excited! She's going to get here Monday afternoon, and then go to the All American Rejects/Taking Back Sunday concert with me on Tuesday. It's going to be a lot of fun! We haven't worked out whether or not I'm driving her back Wednesday, or if she's going to stay and go back with Felicia on Thursday. Either way though it's exciting.

I worked late night over in Wilson tonight, and that was interesting. They had me work over in the Hub, where they make subs and wraps. Initially it was really, really busy. But near the end of the shift it tapered off. It is Halloween after all.

The Why

Doubt, my old friend,

You stumble in,

I am hounded by my failure,

To comprehend,

I don’t understand,

The way things stand,

Between you and me.

I find the path

And walk it a ways

Then stumble and crash

When the tide shifts

And what I believed true

Proves frightfully false.

It’s one step forward,

And two steps back,

It’s a failure to gravitate

Away from this shallow pool

Of consistent failure

I want to find

A reason, a way.

Why, Why

I want to know

I want to understand

I can’t see beyond

These blinders

I can’t find, I can’t distinguish

The why.

Average Thursday

I very nearly didn't write this. Not out of any intention to not do so, but mainly because it slipped my mind. Today was a pretty busy day. I went to my JRN 200 class where we learned that you are supposed to use attribution in obituaries. This seems strange to me, because I've never read an obituary that had attribution, but I'm not going to argue the point.

However, since the book for the class definitely indicated that attribution is not necessary when writing an obituary, we all received a reprieve from the gross grades we got for failing to use attribution in our obituary assignment.

After class I had lunch before heading off to work. Dessert today was cheesecake, I know because the bulk of my shift was spent cutting the numerous cheesecakes that were set to be used this evening. They actually looked really good.

Once I got out of work, I had to head over to the main library where four out of the ten people in our JRN 108 group met to discuss the presentation we're due to give on the eleventh. If we can ever all manage to meet and delegate responsibilities it should end up being a fairly simple project.

It was seven or so by the time I finally got the chance to work on my article that was due by eleven tonight, and of course I didn't end up concentrating on it until a quarter to ten. The important thing however is that I managed to get it finished, and go over it. I am 99% certain that there were no fatals in that particular assignment.

Avoiding Fatals and ReWrite Contemplation

I'm giving myself until ten thirty to finish reading the chapter that was assigned in class today, and then I am done with homework for the evening. Tomorrow we leave for Fall Retreat, which is really exciting. From what everyone has said it's really fun, so I'm looking forward to seeing what it's all about. The weekend looks like it might be a little cold, but that's what you get in northern Michigan.

Thankfully I didn't get any fatals on my out of class article, but I didn't do as well as I would have like to have done. I needed to try a little harder to get "live sources", but it was difficult because the article was a little ambitious. I'm going to try and go with something that's more localized next time.

I just keep telling myself that it's alright, because at least I didn't get a fatal. A fatal on that assignment would have been awful because it's ten percent of my final grade in that class. At least I didn't get any fatals...

I'm still debating whether or not I want to attempt re-writing it. I guess I'll wait until Sunday evening to give things a second look and see if it's worth it to me to go through with it. I'm thinking about forgoing the re-write this time around.

Homework

My current goal is to finish reading “Going Bovine” by the middle of next week. Hopefully I can manage to balance school work and reading to the point that it will at least be a feasible goal. I think it’s a feasible goal anyway.

I’m really glad though that I’ve managed to get all caught up with my homework. Everything it set so that this weekend won’t be all piled up when I get back Sunday. That is a definite plus.

Anyway, I need to get this posted so that I can head out the door. Tonight is fellowship night, and for once I don’t have to worry about having homework caught up for class tomorrow, which is awesome.

Gearing Up

For once I feel like I've really managed to get caught up with all of my homework. Not only do I have everything done for tomorrow, aside from reading a chapter or two, but I've also got everything finished for Thursday. It's a really nice to feeling to have all of that done.

Thankfully this means that I'll be able to get some sleep earlier than one a.m., and that is awesome. The last couple of nights have been late ones, and that is starting to take its toll.

Hopefully next week I can start getting things set for NANOWRIMO. I have never participated in it before, so this should be interesting. It's a little nerve-wrecking to be honest, but I'll be able to work through it I'm sure.

It would be awesome to manage to finish the novel that I've been working on for the past several years. Alright, I've got a book review to polish and post and then maybe I can finish my reading. Sleep sounds so nice...

Interviews

I have now sent out the interview questions for my first out of class article assignment. I'm still nervous about this article, but hopefully once I get things written the nerves will start to ebb a little.

After work tomorrow I think I'll start writing the basis of the article, based on the information that is currently available to me. Hopefully those two assignments went well in the class the other day. I'll find out in the morning I suppose.

As long as I didn't write any fatals then everything should be fine... We'll see in other words.

I'm not too sure about the quiz we took in Economics today. I really don't enjoy dealing with numbers in the first place, and when you combine that kind of material with short answer questions it makes things that much more difficult. I think it went as well as it could have. I'd love it if that quiz went better than the last in class quiz, but I'm doubtful on that front.

Thankfully the homework is all online and multiple choice, with retries when you get an answer wrong. I think the homework is what's going to save me in that class.

Forgetful SLUG

I was so focused on finishing my SLUG worksheet for class tomorrow that I nearly didn't write this before going out. That wouldn't have been a good idea.

Now that I have you confused though, maybe I'll explain what a SLUG worksheet is. It has nothing to do with an actual slug, I promise. Basically in journalism a 'slug' is a short description of your article that you are supposed to include near the top of the page when you turn it in to your editor. In this case it needs to be there when I turn articles in to my professor.

Anyway, we're going to be writing our first articles this coming week, but first a SLUG worksheet has to be filled out. Basically this explains the article idea to Omar, and then he determines whether we can run with the idea or if we have to go back to the drawing board.

I'm really hoping that the idea I've come up with is going to work... Other words I'm not really sure what I'll write about, but I suppose we shall see.

Bean Bag Toss

Tonight was really fun. I went to a local elementary school and helped out with a kind of carnival that they were holding for their students in the schools gym. They had different games set up, and the kids would 'pay' with a read ticket to play the game, and then win white tickets in exchange for how well they did in the particular game.

Andy and I were manning the bean bag toss. It was really fun to get the opportunity to work with kids again. I haven't really done a lot of volunteer work since high school, and really I've missed it. There truly is something relaxing about donating a portion of your time to someone else. Volunteering is both something that you do for someone else, but also for yourself and for the feeling that you walk away with.

Another awesome thing about today is that I am caught up in all of my classes. Even just last week I felt like I was drowning in school work, and just so far behind but at the moment that's not an issue and that is an amazing feeling. I love being caught up with everything. It's just too stressful the other way around.

Documentary Night

For the first time in a while I feel like I've managed to get caught up with all of my school related reading. It's really nice to feel like you're ahead of the game, instead of continually behind. I have a few more sections of USA Today to read tonight and then I need to review the AP Stylebook and then I'm done for the night. That is a really nice feeling.

It was muggy outside the majority of the day, which made walking to and from class uncomfortable. I'm glad I had long sleeves though because it seemed like every single one of my classes was freezing.

After class I came back to my dorm and did some cleaning. The sink in the bathroom was getting pretty gross honestly.

Tomorrow I'm planning to Volunteer at a sort of local Elementary school. They're having a "Curriculum Carnival", so that should be interesting. Tomorrow afternoon I have to make a call and confirm that I can get a ride there and back.

This evening though was really interesting. I went to the 'premiere' of a documentary that was produced by a couple professor's from MSU. The name of the documentary is "Arabs, Jews, and The News". The website for the film can be found here: http://www.arabsjewsnews.org/ . After they played the documentary they had a panel with several of the 'commentators'. It was really interesting to listen to.

Something that really interested me about what was said, was the commentary on the media and the way that they have looked at issues currently taking place in the middle east. I do think that the media often gets hung up on portraying situations in particular ways and failing in many ways to be truly objective. What I mean when I say that is they fail to take an issue and look at it from new perspectives.

For example one of the men on the panel was Nolan Finley from The Detroit News. He talked about covering the rallies that took place in Dearborn. He felt that it was very important to cover the fact that there were people there who supported Hezbollah and equated Jews with the Nazi's. Now, perhaps it is a fact that that was taking place as the photographs confirm, but if reports from several people who were there are true those who were doing so were the minority. In fact, it has been said that those who were holding these signs were asked to discard them by others at the event. This could easily have been the focus of an article, rather than merely the fact that those individuals were there.

Sometimes it's about looking for the less obvious angle...

Concentration Fail

So I'm definitely coming down with something, and it better be just a cold. My voice seems to fade in and out, breathing through my nose just isn't an option for the moment, and I have a sore throat. I really don't want to be sick.

I'm heading home for the weekend tomorrow after class. Apparently AT&T have awful communication skills, so my mom and I have to go work out another issue with my phone. My phone number will be reverting back in the near future. Lovely.

I took my first Economics quiz today, and that definitely could have gone better... though it was online so of course it was open book, it was a little hard to concentrate with my roommate and her friend bouncing around the room getting ready to go out. At least now though I have an idea of how the quizzes will go and can be better prepared next time. I now also know to take them earlier in the day.

For the most part though I am caught up on my homework. I have to finish reading House of Sand and Fog tonight for class tomorrow. They way that he had it assigned we were set to read the book in a week. Essentially we were assigned to read about one hundred pages between class periods which occur every other day. I like to think that I will have it read by midnight so that I can actually get some sleep.

It was two thirty this morning when I got in from Fellowship. But I had fun. It was definitely better than the alternative of sitting here and being told that I need to "get out there and meet people". Yeah. I'll get right on that. No, but I really do like going to Fellowship. I feel really comfortable there.

Earlier I went this program going on in my "neighborhood" called the "World News Forum". That was actually really interesting and it's held monthly so I think I'm going to try and keep going to that. Essentially a bunch of us met together and discussed things that are going on in the news at a global level. The program is really well organized and its interactive without being overly interactive. It was actually kind of cool.

Nearly Finished

I am very close to having all of my reading, except for the AP Stylebook read. I am kind of dreading attempting to familiarize myself with the AP Stylebook because it's a lot like reading the dictionary, except it's like a dictionary targeted specifically at Journalists. Egh.

Today though has been really productive, which is good because once I am caught up I think it will be a lot easier to remain caught up. I definitely don't want to feel so buried in homework again because it isn't really any fun.

For Economics we are supposed to read The Wall Street Journal. I can't remember what sections we're supposed to read... anyway my first copy of it arrived in my mailbox this weekend but I don't think I'm going to bother with it tonight. Economics, woo-hoo!

Aside from being able to catch up on homework today I got some much needed sleep. Now all I need is for my new phone to make it's way here... Hopefully tomorrow I can finish reading "Skinned". I started reading it just before classes started and haven't had a chance to get back to it since. I am kind of proud that I've been able to focus in on homework to an extent rather than procrastinating with pleasure reading.

I'm getting better at avoiding procrastination anyway...

Homework and Ebay

I woke up this morning, and the first thing that I did was run my hand across my eyes. When at least half of your face is sun burnt this is not a good idea. So that was fun.

I have finally willed myself to climb down from bed and attempt to finish reading a few more chapters in my News and Reporting textbook. I have to read through chapter five, and plan to manage that before at least one. I then want to read the last assigned chapter in Elements of Journalism. I still have to go over sections A-P in the AP Stylebook but I'm going to have to hold off on that because I need to have one-hundred pages of House of Sand and Fog read for tomorrow.

Today is my day of catch up and making promises to myself that I will stay caught up from here on out, because quite frankly this is ridiculous. It helps that newspaper reading has been suspended until Wednesday.

The phone that I ordered off of Ebay still hasn't made it to my parents house. As of Saturday it left Allen Park, MI so it should be fairly close. Of course once it makes it there I have to wait for it to be shipped back to me. My intention was to have it shipped directly to me, but of course I forgot to change the address and hit send without thinking first. I was then going to see about getting the seller to change the address, but they said that they couldn't for fear of fraud. Lovely.

Soon enough however I will be in possession of a phone that I can actually use. Texting is alright, but sometimes it just doesn't cut it.

So Little TIme

To be honest today hasn't been the most productive homework-wise... I finished reading the first of three chapters that I need to have read for Thursday, and have gotten out and situated my six newspapers. I plan to read through them once this is written and posted. It is the plan, or at least the partial plan. This evening I'm having supper with my family (chicken and baked potatoes) before going out for ice cream with Sarah. After ice cream I'll probably mosey on over to my sisters house.

I need to focus as getting as much of my reading done tonight before I go to sleep. I can haz focus? You'll be hearing about my success and or failure later tonight, unless I drop the ball and don't blog. I will do my best not to drop the ball!

I also need to re-program phone numbers into my phone before I go back to school. Ah, there is so much to be done and so little time available! I head back to school tomorrow afternoon, and this will be my last weekend home until my cousin's wedding at the beginning of October. It's time to buckle down and work on establishing a GPA!

Alright, back to work!