I'm done ahead of schedule. I wrote the damn paper AND finished my homework and was putting it all together for the portfolio and thought, "What is missing? I'm pretty sure there were four components to this: revised paper, artifact, draft with teacher remarks... what else?OH GOD. The cover letter."
I have to write a one page cover letter explaining my reasons for writing the paper, what I changed from the draft and whatever other questions are listed in the syllabus. ARGGGGHHH.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Herd those cats!
My homework is finished and I'm near the end of revising my paper- only to find that I have taken too much out. My paper is now at least a page short. Gaarrrgghhh! What sucks is that it really is better like this. I'm going to take the girls out but then I'll go back through my draft and add a lot of that caca back in. When my teacher gave us back our first paper (92/100) she went over some of the problems she saw. She said there were a lot of good points and good quotes but a lack of support. She emphasized that we have to constantly connect back to our thesis and used the metaphor of herding cats. I think that image will stay with me forever, but in a good way. I see all my crazy random thoughts slipping out to the sides and me trying to go back and forth herding them all through a doorway. Not only is that a fun image but as Tracy will tell you, it is one that fits my papers well.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Oh yeah, I have a blog!
I have been busy with this horrible class and trying to start preparing for the fall semester. I'm trying to organize my office and this whole week it's been just me and Solo- everybody else was in Topaz. There has been NO time for cleaning up this week, just school, work, come home and crank out some homework, eat, pass out. It's making me extremely frustrated to live in such ridiculousness. If Chris ever has a spare moment he's going to clean out the back room and try to turn it into something other than a complete nightmare. I really do want to move somewhere that has a washer and dryer and a yard for my girls but if for some reason I got a job somewhere else we wouldn't want to be stuck in a lease. Sigh. For now I'll just have to schedule in lots of walks with my ladies.
They came home yesterday while I was at work. Ant is still in Topaz and the plan is for him to ride with Chris's brother back to L.A. and go visit the family. He hasn't really been home all summer. I have tentatively moved the nice hand towels back into the linen closet. I bought him a bunch of books recently and he took several with him but I kept back the Uncle John's audiobook. I told him we'd keep that on reserve for our next drive to or from Topaz. I don't see that happening anytime soon. :( I said it might be really late in the summer, but we'd listen to it together.
Chris texted me at work yesterday:
I'm home come home
All three of them were napping when I got there. It was just as quiet as it had been all week. Riley wandered out into the hallway to look but never barked- she just wiggled her way over to see me. Jasmine never left her bed. Later on I coaxed her outside to potty and she went straight to bed. Maybe an hour after that I was folding laundry and she got right up and came to sit in front of me, head down. Uh-oh. Her collar disappeared at the lake so I put my hands on either side of her jaws and walked her into the hall (where there's no carpet). Sure enough, she started urking and barfed up something I can't begin to identify. Somebody's learned the warning signs, huh? I'm always so grateful when I can get her to the bare floor. Dogs find the carpet such a comfortable place to vomit.
They were both exhausted after spending the whole week playing at Topaz. Jasmine gets worn out after one afternoon- and she never spends more than a weekend there. Riley does, but she's also 11 this year. ELEVEN. She was trying to jump onto the bed to give me kisses and started yelping. Chris said she got hurt being a vulture- she was stepped on a couple times because she was underfoot hoping for food. Apparently those injuries are still tender. I'm going to have to do walks at the park where she can wander or not, depending on how she feels.
Chris spent his mini vacation sleeping on the futon mattress inside his van. I know he's extra exhausted from staying up late and not being able to sleep in. Our bedroom is dark as a cave- it must have been super awesome to be woken up by the sun. He's out cold now and I'm going to let him stay that way for as long as possible. He worked last night despite his exhaustion and he's working all weekend.
This is how things go- I'm stressed and busy all week, he works all weekend. :(
I'm going to force myself to knock out some homework during the silence.
They came home yesterday while I was at work. Ant is still in Topaz and the plan is for him to ride with Chris's brother back to L.A. and go visit the family. He hasn't really been home all summer. I have tentatively moved the nice hand towels back into the linen closet. I bought him a bunch of books recently and he took several with him but I kept back the Uncle John's audiobook. I told him we'd keep that on reserve for our next drive to or from Topaz. I don't see that happening anytime soon. :( I said it might be really late in the summer, but we'd listen to it together.
Chris texted me at work yesterday:
I'm home come home
All three of them were napping when I got there. It was just as quiet as it had been all week. Riley wandered out into the hallway to look but never barked- she just wiggled her way over to see me. Jasmine never left her bed. Later on I coaxed her outside to potty and she went straight to bed. Maybe an hour after that I was folding laundry and she got right up and came to sit in front of me, head down. Uh-oh. Her collar disappeared at the lake so I put my hands on either side of her jaws and walked her into the hall (where there's no carpet). Sure enough, she started urking and barfed up something I can't begin to identify. Somebody's learned the warning signs, huh? I'm always so grateful when I can get her to the bare floor. Dogs find the carpet such a comfortable place to vomit.
They were both exhausted after spending the whole week playing at Topaz. Jasmine gets worn out after one afternoon- and she never spends more than a weekend there. Riley does, but she's also 11 this year. ELEVEN. She was trying to jump onto the bed to give me kisses and started yelping. Chris said she got hurt being a vulture- she was stepped on a couple times because she was underfoot hoping for food. Apparently those injuries are still tender. I'm going to have to do walks at the park where she can wander or not, depending on how she feels.
Chris spent his mini vacation sleeping on the futon mattress inside his van. I know he's extra exhausted from staying up late and not being able to sleep in. Our bedroom is dark as a cave- it must have been super awesome to be woken up by the sun. He's out cold now and I'm going to let him stay that way for as long as possible. He worked last night despite his exhaustion and he's working all weekend.
This is how things go- I'm stressed and busy all week, he works all weekend. :(
I'm going to force myself to knock out some homework during the silence.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Hep
It's official, I'm a whiner. I don't know what kind of classes the other girls are taking, but no one thought this class was an excessive amount of work. One girl said she had a class that required 120 pages of reading a night. That's a lot, but this class isn't far behind, plus there's the writing. Whatever. I'd like to check out my teachers for the fall and make sure none of them are grad students.
Speaking of which, a fellow work study found a class that could seriously be a lot of fun. It consists of reading, one month of weekend classes, and a trip to San Francisco. It's upper division, which is what I need, but it's only 2 credits. In order to take that, I'd need to find a 1 credit, upper division class. Even if I found one, I wouldn't fit. They're all serious science labs and such. My coworker suggested asking someone in the English Department if they would let me do an independent study for one credit. If that actually got approved I could possibly still work this fall, but more importantly, seriously decrease my workload and free up my schedule. I'm also not entirely sure this is a good idea. Should I even give this a shot?
Your feedback is requested.
By the way, I finally checked online- I got an A in Ceramics. Whew.
Speaking of which, a fellow work study found a class that could seriously be a lot of fun. It consists of reading, one month of weekend classes, and a trip to San Francisco. It's upper division, which is what I need, but it's only 2 credits. In order to take that, I'd need to find a 1 credit, upper division class. Even if I found one, I wouldn't fit. They're all serious science labs and such. My coworker suggested asking someone in the English Department if they would let me do an independent study for one credit. If that actually got approved I could possibly still work this fall, but more importantly, seriously decrease my workload and free up my schedule. I'm also not entirely sure this is a good idea. Should I even give this a shot?
Your feedback is requested.
By the way, I finally checked online- I got an A in Ceramics. Whew.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Hidden Valley
I met Jody over at the park this evening. It was pretty nice out and our dogs haven't seen each other in a long time so they ran around like crazy. Jasmine actually jumped out the window rather than wait for me to open her door.
Riley's usually the first one to start walking behind us, but as the dogs poop out they join the caravan.
Snoopy, of course, never gets tired. If you look hard you can see her way up ahead.
Back at the Dodge we gave them some more water. Riley jumped in and was ready to go home.
Jasmine was especially tired and didn't make it that far.
After a brief rest she played with Snoopy and Lucy some more but Riley stayed in the car.
By the way- I love living here.
Riley's usually the first one to start walking behind us, but as the dogs poop out they join the caravan.
Snoopy, of course, never gets tired. If you look hard you can see her way up ahead.
Back at the Dodge we gave them some more water. Riley jumped in and was ready to go home.
Jasmine was especially tired and didn't make it that far.
After a brief rest she played with Snoopy and Lucy some more but Riley stayed in the car.
By the way- I love living here.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
I'll see your grad-student-insanity workload and raise you Jenny determination.
It must be a full moon because... it is. Sorry, I've been reading Steve Martin's book Born Standing Up. One of my favorite parts so far is his favorite joke from a vaudeville star's performance:
"One day he brought his trick violin to the store to share with this sixteen-year-old boy. He flicked a hidden switch, and I watched as the violin changed into a colorful bouquet of feather-flowers. Nice, but then he showed me his opening joke: He walked from behind the counter and stood on the floor of the magic shop, announcing, 'And now, the glove into dove trick!' He threw a white magician's glove into the air. It hit the floor and lay there. He stared at it and then went on to the next trick."
And I can't stop giggling.
Steve Martin is a smarty-pants, which can be obnoxious at times, but he's a pretty funny guy. I couldn't stand Shopgirl and refused to watch the movie. It grossed me out that he cast himself opposite Claire Danes even if the story was about a May-December relationship. It struck me as horribly self-indulgent. But I LOVED The Pleasure of My Company. It is in my top 5 books and L.A. Story is in my top 5 movies. But Jennyway, where the hell was I going with this?
Ah. It must be a full moon because I just tackled a big project. Two lingering projects, actually. This class may require too much but I don't care- I am going to keep up with my non school-related reading and I will finish the leftover projects before the fall semester starts. Only not right now. I'm tired and I need to go blog. But tomorrow! Tomorrow I will resume accomplishing all sorts of impressive feats. So there, class. So there.
"One day he brought his trick violin to the store to share with this sixteen-year-old boy. He flicked a hidden switch, and I watched as the violin changed into a colorful bouquet of feather-flowers. Nice, but then he showed me his opening joke: He walked from behind the counter and stood on the floor of the magic shop, announcing, 'And now, the glove into dove trick!' He threw a white magician's glove into the air. It hit the floor and lay there. He stared at it and then went on to the next trick."
And I can't stop giggling.
Steve Martin is a smarty-pants, which can be obnoxious at times, but he's a pretty funny guy. I couldn't stand Shopgirl and refused to watch the movie. It grossed me out that he cast himself opposite Claire Danes even if the story was about a May-December relationship. It struck me as horribly self-indulgent. But I LOVED The Pleasure of My Company. It is in my top 5 books and L.A. Story is in my top 5 movies. But Jennyway, where the hell was I going with this?
Ah. It must be a full moon because I just tackled a big project. Two lingering projects, actually. This class may require too much but I don't care- I am going to keep up with my non school-related reading and I will finish the leftover projects before the fall semester starts. Only not right now. I'm tired and I need to go blog. But tomorrow! Tomorrow I will resume accomplishing all sorts of impressive feats. So there, class. So there.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Here comes the Waahmbulance!
I finished my homework by 10 last night so I have time to blog this morning. Actually, I should really be getting my stuff together and emptying the dishwasher but oh well.
Once again, 400A is complete insanity. Just like the novel writing class, it is taught by a grad student with a warped sense of how much work is appropriate. There is SO much to do that I'm already swamped. Last night I cried. I was also tired, crashing, and frustrated. Chris and I were arguing and he was baffled.
"Isn't this only the third day of class?" he asked.
"Second," I warbled.
Now I can really see that working this fall will be a bad idea. I'm also trying to remind myself that I will not feel as horribly overloaded as I do now. Each day in this summer class represents a week of the regular semester. We're back to talking only on the weekends, family. And I'll try to make sure that I get my weekly crying jag out before I call. Sheesh.
Once again, 400A is complete insanity. Just like the novel writing class, it is taught by a grad student with a warped sense of how much work is appropriate. There is SO much to do that I'm already swamped. Last night I cried. I was also tired, crashing, and frustrated. Chris and I were arguing and he was baffled.
"Isn't this only the third day of class?" he asked.
"Second," I warbled.
Now I can really see that working this fall will be a bad idea. I'm also trying to remind myself that I will not feel as horribly overloaded as I do now. Each day in this summer class represents a week of the regular semester. We're back to talking only on the weekends, family. And I'll try to make sure that I get my weekly crying jag out before I call. Sheesh.
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