January 27th, 2010
“I leave my window open
’cause I’m too tired at night to call your name.
Just know I’m right here hopin’
that you’ll come in with the rain.”
It’s been a rough couple of days, my friends. I’m at that point where I’m being plain reckless about not doing work for any of my class, because I got behind and got overwhelmed so early on and then decided to just say “fuck it”, basically. It’s not really that my workload was too much, it’s just everything I’ve been trying to fit in on top of my workload- this apartment shopping thing, in particular, has been so demanding of my time and energy. Besides that, lots of little things have added up to create ridiculous amounts of stress and tension in my life… actually being in class, and doing the reading for my classes, is like an escape. I feel so passionate about everything I’m learning this semester.
Let’s start with an update on the whole apartment thing. I’m not going to go into all the reasons why it’s been such an ideal, but rather focus on the end result. Yesterday I signed a pre-lease for a one-bedroom apartment for $655.00 a month (that’s including water, trash, sewage removal, heat, and hot water). What that means is that I’m not guaranteed to get a place, but the guy who walked me through everything said that it’s “extremely likely”. Either way, they’ll call me in about a week and hopefully they’ll be able to offer me a lease! I pretty much fell in love with this place when I first saw it. For one thing, all of the units have dishwashers, which is totally unnecessary but so exciting! And most of the units have walk-in closets, which would also be sweet. These units are very spacious, at least compared to what I’ve seen; the living room/each area is right on par with what other complexes have to offer, but the kitchen and bedroom are both bigger. The units on the ground floor have nice covered patios, and the units on the upper floors have cute little balconies. The place looks very clean and, most importantly, safe in general (granted, I only saw model units, so I’m sure those are a bit more well-kept than the actual apartments, but hopefully not too much so). I’m so excited!
In other news, Reed and I went to a Young Democrats meeting last night (I made it my goal to actually start going regularly this semester). I was actually really surprised that Reed wanted to come… I didn’t even offer or anything, because I didn’t want him to feel obligated. Basically, a few hours before I left, he was like “Do you want me to come with you to the YDVT meeting?” and I was like “No.” and he was like “…can I?” Haha. So of course I was happy to have him along. Everyone there is SO nice, and they have a lot going on, which is great. I think a club like this is the perfect way to develop close friendships because, well, it’s not like if join a hip-hop dance club or a sewing club or a music appreciation club, where all you have in common necessarily with the other members is a particular hobby. Your political affiliation, on the other hand, couldn’t possibly be closer to the essence and core of who you actually are as a human being. I’m sure that people who are more politically apathetic would try to argue this with me, but what matters more, in terms of building a deep and lasting relationship with a person, than a common set of moral values? And what is a better expression of moral values than political affiliation? This is why I think I love politics so much… your beliefs say everything about your character, about what’s important to you, about how you look at the world and at humanity and about this marvelous condition that we call life. And, by the same token, that’s why, if I’m being honest, I have to admit that I have a certain level of disdain and a definite sense of alienation from people who don’t care about politics. I just don’t understand what could possibly matter more. Your beliefs are not only everything that makes you “you”, they’re everything that makes you human. They drive everything you do… they affect every person you meet, and infinitely more that you’ll never lay eyes on. In its purest form, politics is an expression of your regard, your LOVE for humanity. In short, it’s like religion, but so much better. Haha. But I digress… I think that there’s a really good chance that I’ll get to be good friends with some of the people in YDVT, which is a possibility that I’m very excited about.
What else is new… I’m officially obsessed with “abp”, as everyone here refers to it (I don’t know if that’s normal, haha… au bon pain, if you don’t know what I’m talking about), like in love with it. They have the best soup! We actually have two on campus, but I’d never eaten there prior to coming to Tech. I have a bunch of classes in the general area of both of the abp’s this semester, so I’ve discovered its wonderfulness… it’s like Panera, but on our normal meal plan! So really awesome.
I’m currently shopping for place settings for my apartment next year… I’m thinking of ordering some from Vera Bradley! I didn’t know they did placemats and napkins prior to today, but I think that’d be really sweet… I just don’t know what print I’d get. I also really want a bag in Carnaby big enough to carry my laptop. They have so many sweet things… if you ever get bored, just go on their website and look at all the patterns and all the random junk they make in those patterns. Very entertaining.
In less happy news… Reed’s dad lost his job yesterday, which is pretty stressful. I mean, he’d been thinking it might happen for a while, and had started looking for another job, but he hasn’t found anything yet. His mom, fortunately, got offered a job yesterday (she lost her job maybe half a year ago), which is good, but she got majorly low-balled, as in the initially told her she’d be making a lot more than they ended up offering her. Still, that eased that blow somewhat. It’s just another thing to worry about, for Reed and for me.
I might write more later… but I think I’ll go ahead and post this now. Bailey and Katie, write stuff! Make up things if there isn’t anything interesting to report… and I know there is.
-Lizz
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
January 26, 2010--10:41am
Well, I have officially finished one complete week of classes in my second semester of college. Already I can tell this is going to be a much more stressful semester of classes then last year. Although, I’m not going to lie, I had a pretty lax schedule last semester, what with no Friday classes and lots of BS courses like Sociology and University 101. At any rate, at least the plus side to my classes this semester is that I can see the purpose of all of them as they pertain to my major.
Overall it’s looking pretty easy to set up a daily routine around all my classes. The only problem I’ve been running into is eating at kind of bizarre times since my classes seem to fall at regular eating hours every day. (I have classes running through or at noon every day of the week.) But, unlike last semester, I only have classes that run into the evenings twice a week, and once it starts getting light out later, all my classes will be done before dark, which is pretty exciting.
Last Tuesday we started classes and I had a college first of waking up when it was still dark out! My first class of the day is an 8:00 nutrition class. The good news is that I realized after the first day there will be no need to wake up before 7:30 or so to prepare for class since I come back to my dorm immediately following the class before I have to see anyone who might actually care about my appearance. I think nutrition will probably be my favorite class this semester. Aside from the fact that the subject matter is of the most interest to me, the teacher is really nice and there are only two tests given the entire semester (a mid-term and a final) and both are open-note and given online. Apparently that means the tests are supposed to be really hard, but she gives us a week to complete the test...so I’m thinking I’ll probably be fine. I think my favorite thing so far about the class is the fact that in place of a textbook we have to read two books (“What to Eat” and “Food Politics”) that basically explore the government and big corporations control over how food is marketed to consumers and the tricks that supermarkets play on us to get us to buy things that aren’t good for us. It’s really interesting and also really bleak. I have a feeling after this class I’m not going to be able to view food the same way, which is mildly depressing.
After nutrition I have two hours of down time, at first I thought I would take that time to nap, but I’m realizing if I just by some coffee I don’t really need the nap and then I have two extra hours to spend studying or just doing whatever (like writing this). Then from 12:30-1:45 I have my human bio lecture. This is class is looking like it’ll be an easy A. For one thing, it’s the same professor and structure as my nutrition class. Also, it’s a very basic overview of everything I will be covering in anatomy. Even though it’s going to be repetitive I don’t think it’ll really hurt to have any extra reiteration of topics from anatomy.
By 2:00 on Tuesdays I’m done for the day, which is really nice! My brother and I have established Tuesdays as our lunch day together and it also gives me a lot of time to do homework and also head over to the gym before dinner. Which reminds me, the gym is SO nice. It just got finished over Christmas break. It’s really big and was intimidating at first but now that I’ve gone a couple of times by myself I’m getting into the swing of it and I’ve set up an entire workout regiment that takes about an hour. Right now I’m trying to make it there 3 times a week, I want to get up to 4 days but I’m not sure how realistic that is based on how much other work I have to do this semester.
Ok, on to Wednesday. So Wednesdays my day does not start until 1 when I have my Focused Inquiry class. There’s not much to say there, it’s basically like taking any sort of high school english class. We had to read a stupid book about teenage angst and identity and now we’re discussing it. It’s another sort of throw away class that I should be able to BS my way through. After that I have a huge gap of time in the afternoon and then my anatomy lecture at 5:30. Like I figured, anatomy is totally overwhelming. My professor is this really nice 70+ year old woman whose ridiculously enthusiastic about teaching. The lecture doesn’t seem like it’ll be any harder then, say my psychology class last semester, but the 5:30 time slot is proving to be a problem since that is my natural sleepy part of the day. So no matter how much caffeine I put in myself prior to that class I still find myself dozing off. I think it’ll just be a lot of outside class reading so I can stay on top of things.
Thursdays are my busiest days. I have my 8 am nutrition lecture, then human bio at 12:30 followed immediately by my anatomy lab. Anatomy lab is...terrible. It’s 2 hours of sitting in a lab looking at diagrams and reciting bones and muscles and nerves. It’s useful information, but it’s A LOT of information. On the plus side there is open lab every day of the week where they let you just come in and looks at the diagrams and bones and models and such and practice. I went yesterday and it was definitely really useful in getting the information to stick in my head. It’s just going to be...a lot of studying, unfortunately.
On Friday, I experienced another college first which was, actually having classes on Fridays! I’ve got to say, I’m not a fan. But in reality, I’m done with my classes before I’d probably even be up if I didn’t have classes, so it’s not as though it’s really taking anything out of my weekend. Every other Friday I have to be up by 8:30 to get ready to catch the bus down to the School of Nursing on the MCV campus. The whole bus ride thing is kind of annoying since you have to be at the bus stop nearly an hour before the class actually starts to accommodate travel time and any delays with the bus system. Generally it goes smoothly and you end up at the School of Nursing with 30 minutes to waste. My nursing class is only one credit but I think I’ll get some practical experience from taking it. We’ve been assigned to a senior nursing student to shadow at the hospital for 4 hours this semester. A lot of people are upset about the sections they’ve been assigned to (there was a girl that got the burn unit :-S) but I’m pretty psyched because I got the adult trauma unit and I feel like that leaves a lot of room open for many different experiences. I think they purposely tried to assign us to areas that weren’t in the specialty we already have in mind just so we could experience other things. The only down side to the whole shadowing thing is I have to get like an entire new wardrobe just to enter the hospital since they have about a bazillion dress code regulations and we don’t have scrubs yet. After NURS 101 I head back to the main campus to go to focused inquiry.
Mondays are just a repeat of Wednesday, but I have my human bio lab in the morning from 11-12:50. That class, like the lecture, is kind of a joke. Like with my bio lab last semester, this lab is taught by a biology graduate student (his name is Nate) and he seems pretty chill. He basically told us it was really easy to get an A as long as we came to lab, so I’m not too worried.
And that’s a basic overview of my week. I want to hear about how everyone else’s second semesters have been going! I miss you all!!!
-Cougzz
Overall it’s looking pretty easy to set up a daily routine around all my classes. The only problem I’ve been running into is eating at kind of bizarre times since my classes seem to fall at regular eating hours every day. (I have classes running through or at noon every day of the week.) But, unlike last semester, I only have classes that run into the evenings twice a week, and once it starts getting light out later, all my classes will be done before dark, which is pretty exciting.
Last Tuesday we started classes and I had a college first of waking up when it was still dark out! My first class of the day is an 8:00 nutrition class. The good news is that I realized after the first day there will be no need to wake up before 7:30 or so to prepare for class since I come back to my dorm immediately following the class before I have to see anyone who might actually care about my appearance. I think nutrition will probably be my favorite class this semester. Aside from the fact that the subject matter is of the most interest to me, the teacher is really nice and there are only two tests given the entire semester (a mid-term and a final) and both are open-note and given online. Apparently that means the tests are supposed to be really hard, but she gives us a week to complete the test...so I’m thinking I’ll probably be fine. I think my favorite thing so far about the class is the fact that in place of a textbook we have to read two books (“What to Eat” and “Food Politics”) that basically explore the government and big corporations control over how food is marketed to consumers and the tricks that supermarkets play on us to get us to buy things that aren’t good for us. It’s really interesting and also really bleak. I have a feeling after this class I’m not going to be able to view food the same way, which is mildly depressing.
After nutrition I have two hours of down time, at first I thought I would take that time to nap, but I’m realizing if I just by some coffee I don’t really need the nap and then I have two extra hours to spend studying or just doing whatever (like writing this). Then from 12:30-1:45 I have my human bio lecture. This is class is looking like it’ll be an easy A. For one thing, it’s the same professor and structure as my nutrition class. Also, it’s a very basic overview of everything I will be covering in anatomy. Even though it’s going to be repetitive I don’t think it’ll really hurt to have any extra reiteration of topics from anatomy.
By 2:00 on Tuesdays I’m done for the day, which is really nice! My brother and I have established Tuesdays as our lunch day together and it also gives me a lot of time to do homework and also head over to the gym before dinner. Which reminds me, the gym is SO nice. It just got finished over Christmas break. It’s really big and was intimidating at first but now that I’ve gone a couple of times by myself I’m getting into the swing of it and I’ve set up an entire workout regiment that takes about an hour. Right now I’m trying to make it there 3 times a week, I want to get up to 4 days but I’m not sure how realistic that is based on how much other work I have to do this semester.
Ok, on to Wednesday. So Wednesdays my day does not start until 1 when I have my Focused Inquiry class. There’s not much to say there, it’s basically like taking any sort of high school english class. We had to read a stupid book about teenage angst and identity and now we’re discussing it. It’s another sort of throw away class that I should be able to BS my way through. After that I have a huge gap of time in the afternoon and then my anatomy lecture at 5:30. Like I figured, anatomy is totally overwhelming. My professor is this really nice 70+ year old woman whose ridiculously enthusiastic about teaching. The lecture doesn’t seem like it’ll be any harder then, say my psychology class last semester, but the 5:30 time slot is proving to be a problem since that is my natural sleepy part of the day. So no matter how much caffeine I put in myself prior to that class I still find myself dozing off. I think it’ll just be a lot of outside class reading so I can stay on top of things.
Thursdays are my busiest days. I have my 8 am nutrition lecture, then human bio at 12:30 followed immediately by my anatomy lab. Anatomy lab is...terrible. It’s 2 hours of sitting in a lab looking at diagrams and reciting bones and muscles and nerves. It’s useful information, but it’s A LOT of information. On the plus side there is open lab every day of the week where they let you just come in and looks at the diagrams and bones and models and such and practice. I went yesterday and it was definitely really useful in getting the information to stick in my head. It’s just going to be...a lot of studying, unfortunately.
On Friday, I experienced another college first which was, actually having classes on Fridays! I’ve got to say, I’m not a fan. But in reality, I’m done with my classes before I’d probably even be up if I didn’t have classes, so it’s not as though it’s really taking anything out of my weekend. Every other Friday I have to be up by 8:30 to get ready to catch the bus down to the School of Nursing on the MCV campus. The whole bus ride thing is kind of annoying since you have to be at the bus stop nearly an hour before the class actually starts to accommodate travel time and any delays with the bus system. Generally it goes smoothly and you end up at the School of Nursing with 30 minutes to waste. My nursing class is only one credit but I think I’ll get some practical experience from taking it. We’ve been assigned to a senior nursing student to shadow at the hospital for 4 hours this semester. A lot of people are upset about the sections they’ve been assigned to (there was a girl that got the burn unit :-S) but I’m pretty psyched because I got the adult trauma unit and I feel like that leaves a lot of room open for many different experiences. I think they purposely tried to assign us to areas that weren’t in the specialty we already have in mind just so we could experience other things. The only down side to the whole shadowing thing is I have to get like an entire new wardrobe just to enter the hospital since they have about a bazillion dress code regulations and we don’t have scrubs yet. After NURS 101 I head back to the main campus to go to focused inquiry.
Mondays are just a repeat of Wednesday, but I have my human bio lab in the morning from 11-12:50. That class, like the lecture, is kind of a joke. Like with my bio lab last semester, this lab is taught by a biology graduate student (his name is Nate) and he seems pretty chill. He basically told us it was really easy to get an A as long as we came to lab, so I’m not too worried.
And that’s a basic overview of my week. I want to hear about how everyone else’s second semesters have been going! I miss you all!!!
-Cougzz
Sunday, January 24, 2010
January 24th, 2010
I thought I’d post a little something about my first week back in classes (I encourage all of you to do the same, that is to say, I encourage you to give us an update on how your classes are going so far, whether or not today was your first day back). Here’s the rundown:
It was NOT fun waking up at 7:00 Tuesday morning to get ready for my Resources Geology class. I won’t have to wake up quite that early from now on, but since it was my first day I wanted to give myself plenty of time to find my classroom, and ended up getting there about fifteen minutes early. I ended up really enjoying my first class though- if I have to be in class that early, at least this one seems like it’ll be interesting! Resources Geology is basically the study of the “location, use, and conservation of geologic resources”, plus the “human-induced environmental problems… that are consequences of exploiting these resources.” In short, it’s all the aspects of science that actual intrigue me- the political, economical, and ethical implications of science. My professor is, well, a scientist- very grave and concerned about everything- and he seems very passionate about the subject matter. That’s the only thing that’s ever really impressed me about any sort of science class, the character of the professors… they aren’t apathetic or blasé about just about anything. I’ve always appreciated compassion and a sense of obligation to the world above all other humanly qualities, and so I’ve started to notice that people of this caliber are found a lot in the sciences. Maybe it’s just that they have a terrible awareness of just how tenuous our condition is… at any rate, Dr. Knight said that this course will heavily emphasize giving us the knowledge we need to be responsible citizens of the world, which I’m excited about (Haha). Besides all that, today in class we did a brief overview of what we’ll cover this semester, as well as a sort of mini-lecture about Haiti. I only have four grades for the whole semester (all of which are tests), and the final exam is not cumulative, which is always good. There’s no attendance policy because the class is still pretty big (around 150 students), but it’s smaller than my previous Geology class. I can’t think of any other time in my life when I’ve been excited to take a science class, so I’m pretty pleased that this is working out so well.
My next class was a few hours later- Intro to Political Theory at 11:00. This class seems like it’ll be a little dry, but manageable. The best part is that we read a lot of really famous articles and excerpts from the works of well-known political writers, so I really feel like I’m getting a good foundation for what I need to know to go into political science. The class is divided up into seven sections, each focusing on a different ideology: liberalism, conservatism, communism, fascism, anarchism, feminism, and environmentalism. Also, a lot of the stuff we cover is stuff that I already learned last year, in A.P. Comparative Government, and several of our assigned readings are things I’ve read before (Jihad vs. McWorld!). I guess that makes sense, since in order to study and compare different governments you have to go into their ideologies and all that “freedom versus equality” stuff, which is basically what THIS course is all about, so it’ll be nice to be a little ahead I guess. In this class I only have three tests, each counting for 30% of our grade (they’re all short answer and essay, which is a first for me here at Tech), and the other 10% is based on attendance (which is taken daily). The final isn’t cumulative. There are a little more than 100 students in this class. It’s kind of also like A.P. English Lit., in a way, because we spend a lot of class time just having open discussion about the previous night’s reading. This works to my advantage in a big way- I’ve noticed that in situations like this, girls NEVER actually raise their hands and participate and contribute to the discussion. It was the same way in A.P. Lit. That being the case, it’s really easy to get the professor to know who you are, by being that girl that participates. I don’t understand why guys have such an easier time thinking what they have to say is worth contributing to the conversation… but as a female, you can really stand out if you actually raise your hand with some frequency. I think that if I can stay enthused about the subject matter, this will end up being a good course.
My last class on Tuesday was Human Sexuality, which was basically awesome. Looking ahead at the day-by-day schedule, here are some sample topics: Spin the Bottle: Sex, Lies, and Alcohol (video), Childhood and Adolescent Sexuality, Men Talk About Women, Women Talk About Men: Student Panel Discussion, Still Doing It: Intimate Lives of Women Over 65 (video), Sex Work, Sexual Images, and Selling Sex. This class sounded sweet… unfortunately I’ve had to drop it. It conflicted with an Honors class that I was able to add (which is much harder to get into), and Reed and I also wanted to take Human Sexuality together, so this works out better I guess. I’ll definitely be signing up for it again next semester!
Wednesday did not start out as well as Tuesday. My Morality and Justice class was all the way across campus, bumping right up against the actual town of Blacksburg. That was annoying, but if that’d been the only problem, things would have been fine. It was about ten minutes into the actual class that I decided there was no way I could actually stand to remain enrolled in the course. For one thing, it was just too much of what I’m already doing in Intro to Political Theory and also Religious Ethics, but more… abstract. That is to say, I got the sense that I’d get really annoyed with philosophizing about morality and justice really fast. So I decided to drop that class, for my own mental stability.
I was also stressed out on Wednesday because the section of Spanish 1106 that I was originally in got cut by the department, so I had to show up to a different section and try to force-add. When I got there, there were probably 10 other people trying to force-add, so things were not looking good. Basically I just staked out at my computer for all of Wednesday afternoon, and finally a slot became open and I grabbed it… so now I have Spanish on Monday/Wednesday/Friday from 1:25-2:15. I have the same professor as I had last semester, which is nice I guess, and when everything settles down there will be about 25 students in my class. So that’s that.
My last class on Wednesday was Religious Ethics. This class is Monday and Wednesdays only… I think I’m going to like it a lot. It’s small-ish, like 30 or so students, and the teacher (a graduate student) seems really cool. We read the story from Genesis about Abraham being told by God to sacrifice Isaac and we had to answer questions about morality as it pertains to that passage… it was cool. In the class, we cover Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity… most of our grade is from paper-writing, which is a first for me here. I think that will be sort of refreshing as well.
Friday I went to my first Principles of Economics class. It’s a huge lecture class, but Reed and David are both in my section, which is nice. I think this class will be really interesting, and will also go along nicely with some of my political science classes I’m taking now and will take in the future. There’s gotta be some value to getting a basic grasp of how economy works as well, in a practical sense. I’m hoping that this class will turn out to be very practical, actually… and I’m interested in the subject, which is always good.
I have two more classes I have yet to go to- The Legend of King Arthur and Freshman Honors Seminar. Both are Honors courses, really small, so I’m hoping to really get to know the people in my classes. They’re both also supposed to have really good professors. The Legend of King Arthur just sounds awesome and interesting because obviously I love King Arthur! Freshman Honors Seminar is super chill, we’re just supposed to talk about stuff and hang out with each other basically (it’s Pass/Fail). Both classes are only once a week, which is sweet.
So obviously I have quite the academic workload this semester (19 hours, yikes)! I’m excited about every single one of my classes though, and I really think I’m going to get into them more than I did in my classes last semester. I also have more variety in terms of class size and how we actually get our grades (tests, homework assignments, papers, etc). I think that if I can stay on top of everything, it’ll be a really awesome semester!
It was NOT fun waking up at 7:00 Tuesday morning to get ready for my Resources Geology class. I won’t have to wake up quite that early from now on, but since it was my first day I wanted to give myself plenty of time to find my classroom, and ended up getting there about fifteen minutes early. I ended up really enjoying my first class though- if I have to be in class that early, at least this one seems like it’ll be interesting! Resources Geology is basically the study of the “location, use, and conservation of geologic resources”, plus the “human-induced environmental problems… that are consequences of exploiting these resources.” In short, it’s all the aspects of science that actual intrigue me- the political, economical, and ethical implications of science. My professor is, well, a scientist- very grave and concerned about everything- and he seems very passionate about the subject matter. That’s the only thing that’s ever really impressed me about any sort of science class, the character of the professors… they aren’t apathetic or blasé about just about anything. I’ve always appreciated compassion and a sense of obligation to the world above all other humanly qualities, and so I’ve started to notice that people of this caliber are found a lot in the sciences. Maybe it’s just that they have a terrible awareness of just how tenuous our condition is… at any rate, Dr. Knight said that this course will heavily emphasize giving us the knowledge we need to be responsible citizens of the world, which I’m excited about (Haha). Besides all that, today in class we did a brief overview of what we’ll cover this semester, as well as a sort of mini-lecture about Haiti. I only have four grades for the whole semester (all of which are tests), and the final exam is not cumulative, which is always good. There’s no attendance policy because the class is still pretty big (around 150 students), but it’s smaller than my previous Geology class. I can’t think of any other time in my life when I’ve been excited to take a science class, so I’m pretty pleased that this is working out so well.
My next class was a few hours later- Intro to Political Theory at 11:00. This class seems like it’ll be a little dry, but manageable. The best part is that we read a lot of really famous articles and excerpts from the works of well-known political writers, so I really feel like I’m getting a good foundation for what I need to know to go into political science. The class is divided up into seven sections, each focusing on a different ideology: liberalism, conservatism, communism, fascism, anarchism, feminism, and environmentalism. Also, a lot of the stuff we cover is stuff that I already learned last year, in A.P. Comparative Government, and several of our assigned readings are things I’ve read before (Jihad vs. McWorld!). I guess that makes sense, since in order to study and compare different governments you have to go into their ideologies and all that “freedom versus equality” stuff, which is basically what THIS course is all about, so it’ll be nice to be a little ahead I guess. In this class I only have three tests, each counting for 30% of our grade (they’re all short answer and essay, which is a first for me here at Tech), and the other 10% is based on attendance (which is taken daily). The final isn’t cumulative. There are a little more than 100 students in this class. It’s kind of also like A.P. English Lit., in a way, because we spend a lot of class time just having open discussion about the previous night’s reading. This works to my advantage in a big way- I’ve noticed that in situations like this, girls NEVER actually raise their hands and participate and contribute to the discussion. It was the same way in A.P. Lit. That being the case, it’s really easy to get the professor to know who you are, by being that girl that participates. I don’t understand why guys have such an easier time thinking what they have to say is worth contributing to the conversation… but as a female, you can really stand out if you actually raise your hand with some frequency. I think that if I can stay enthused about the subject matter, this will end up being a good course.
My last class on Tuesday was Human Sexuality, which was basically awesome. Looking ahead at the day-by-day schedule, here are some sample topics: Spin the Bottle: Sex, Lies, and Alcohol (video), Childhood and Adolescent Sexuality, Men Talk About Women, Women Talk About Men: Student Panel Discussion, Still Doing It: Intimate Lives of Women Over 65 (video), Sex Work, Sexual Images, and Selling Sex. This class sounded sweet… unfortunately I’ve had to drop it. It conflicted with an Honors class that I was able to add (which is much harder to get into), and Reed and I also wanted to take Human Sexuality together, so this works out better I guess. I’ll definitely be signing up for it again next semester!
Wednesday did not start out as well as Tuesday. My Morality and Justice class was all the way across campus, bumping right up against the actual town of Blacksburg. That was annoying, but if that’d been the only problem, things would have been fine. It was about ten minutes into the actual class that I decided there was no way I could actually stand to remain enrolled in the course. For one thing, it was just too much of what I’m already doing in Intro to Political Theory and also Religious Ethics, but more… abstract. That is to say, I got the sense that I’d get really annoyed with philosophizing about morality and justice really fast. So I decided to drop that class, for my own mental stability.
I was also stressed out on Wednesday because the section of Spanish 1106 that I was originally in got cut by the department, so I had to show up to a different section and try to force-add. When I got there, there were probably 10 other people trying to force-add, so things were not looking good. Basically I just staked out at my computer for all of Wednesday afternoon, and finally a slot became open and I grabbed it… so now I have Spanish on Monday/Wednesday/Friday from 1:25-2:15. I have the same professor as I had last semester, which is nice I guess, and when everything settles down there will be about 25 students in my class. So that’s that.
My last class on Wednesday was Religious Ethics. This class is Monday and Wednesdays only… I think I’m going to like it a lot. It’s small-ish, like 30 or so students, and the teacher (a graduate student) seems really cool. We read the story from Genesis about Abraham being told by God to sacrifice Isaac and we had to answer questions about morality as it pertains to that passage… it was cool. In the class, we cover Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity… most of our grade is from paper-writing, which is a first for me here. I think that will be sort of refreshing as well.
Friday I went to my first Principles of Economics class. It’s a huge lecture class, but Reed and David are both in my section, which is nice. I think this class will be really interesting, and will also go along nicely with some of my political science classes I’m taking now and will take in the future. There’s gotta be some value to getting a basic grasp of how economy works as well, in a practical sense. I’m hoping that this class will turn out to be very practical, actually… and I’m interested in the subject, which is always good.
I have two more classes I have yet to go to- The Legend of King Arthur and Freshman Honors Seminar. Both are Honors courses, really small, so I’m hoping to really get to know the people in my classes. They’re both also supposed to have really good professors. The Legend of King Arthur just sounds awesome and interesting because obviously I love King Arthur! Freshman Honors Seminar is super chill, we’re just supposed to talk about stuff and hang out with each other basically (it’s Pass/Fail). Both classes are only once a week, which is sweet.
So obviously I have quite the academic workload this semester (19 hours, yikes)! I’m excited about every single one of my classes though, and I really think I’m going to get into them more than I did in my classes last semester. I also have more variety in terms of class size and how we actually get our grades (tests, homework assignments, papers, etc). I think that if I can stay on top of everything, it’ll be a really awesome semester!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Oyyyyyy. Not that anything is happening, but i still just want to keep you up to date.
So yesterday on Friday Zach asked if I wanted to see the movie Legion with him. I was like sure sounds good. We went to the 4:45 showing and got there pretty early. We found our seat in the top middle part. But funny thing happened. Jules walked into the theader!! I was like Juuuuuuuuules!! She said, “Hello!!! Are you on a dateee?” “Ha ha. No. *hugs*”
I hadn’t seen her in a long while. We talked and eventually she sat next to me! (and gave me candy! =D) Lol Zach said he didn’t mind, but I mean come on, I don’t think he was totally thrilled about it.
A little while after dropping me off him I get a text from him
Zach: Did your sister ask if we were on a date? Lol
Me: lol yeah she jokingly asked that
Zach: lol nice. Do you even date? I never hear you talk about boyfriends or anything
Me: I have and there’s nothing much to report *shrugs*
Zach: Ah, no interests?
Me: I dunno. Not much really at the moment
Me: why?
Zach: I was just curious about if you were interested in anybody. I haven’t pursed any of my interests for the last half year since I thought I was leaving
God do I sound vague? Haha it’s that I’d hear him say stuff like, “Chrissy you gotta let me take you to see this movie” or “You have to let me take you to the hooka bar” and blah……. I mean would it be bad to go along with hanging out all for the sake of friendship? Let him pay for everything and be “dense” about knowing that he might like me? Like I really like Zach. Just not like that. Sweet Jez!!! Is this how Mark felt everytime he hung out with me?!?!?! Awww I feel sorta bad now. Zach really is a puppy. (and sadly I was one too when it came to Mark. Sigh.)
oh and Daddy is going to Iraq in May and will be coming home no later than February 2011. It's better than Afganistan I think. Well it's less dangerous. I just hope he won't get over there then they're be like "we're going to move you Afgan. now." hmmm.
Random thing. I've been listening to a lot of Shakira, Taylor Swift and Goo Goo Dolls. xD weird I know. and my new favorite current musical is Meet Me in St. Louis. teehee. anyway, just wanted to tell you all before I forgot. =p
loveee you!!
-Chris
So yesterday on Friday Zach asked if I wanted to see the movie Legion with him. I was like sure sounds good. We went to the 4:45 showing and got there pretty early. We found our seat in the top middle part. But funny thing happened. Jules walked into the theader!! I was like Juuuuuuuuules!! She said, “Hello!!! Are you on a dateee?” “Ha ha. No. *hugs*”
I hadn’t seen her in a long while. We talked and eventually she sat next to me! (and gave me candy! =D) Lol Zach said he didn’t mind, but I mean come on, I don’t think he was totally thrilled about it.
A little while after dropping me off him I get a text from him
Zach: Did your sister ask if we were on a date? Lol
Me: lol yeah she jokingly asked that
Zach: lol nice. Do you even date? I never hear you talk about boyfriends or anything
Me: I have and there’s nothing much to report *shrugs*
Zach: Ah, no interests?
Me: I dunno. Not much really at the moment
Me: why?
Zach: I was just curious about if you were interested in anybody. I haven’t pursed any of my interests for the last half year since I thought I was leaving
God do I sound vague? Haha it’s that I’d hear him say stuff like, “Chrissy you gotta let me take you to see this movie” or “You have to let me take you to the hooka bar” and blah……. I mean would it be bad to go along with hanging out all for the sake of friendship? Let him pay for everything and be “dense” about knowing that he might like me? Like I really like Zach. Just not like that. Sweet Jez!!! Is this how Mark felt everytime he hung out with me?!?!?! Awww I feel sorta bad now. Zach really is a puppy. (and sadly I was one too when it came to Mark. Sigh.)
oh and Daddy is going to Iraq in May and will be coming home no later than February 2011. It's better than Afganistan I think. Well it's less dangerous. I just hope he won't get over there then they're be like "we're going to move you Afgan. now." hmmm.
Random thing. I've been listening to a lot of Shakira, Taylor Swift and Goo Goo Dolls. xD weird I know. and my new favorite current musical is Meet Me in St. Louis. teehee. anyway, just wanted to tell you all before I forgot. =p
loveee you!!
-Chris
Thursday, January 21, 2010
You can have it all. Anything you want you can make it yours. Anything you want in the world. Anything you want in the world
Would it be ridiculous if I asked for everything in the world? I guess that would be asking too much, at least for one person to handle by herself. One thing I do ask for is that I have a laptop where the keyboard glows. Presently, I’m writing by the glow of my Toshiba screen and other various glowing icons. Woah you know what would be crazy?? A glow in the dark laptop!!! Or is there one already out there in the world? Ah who knows. I would totally google it except the fact that I do not have internet access in my room . =/ I have spent so much more time in my own room this year than I probably did in high school. Interesting eh? Isn’t usually the other way around? I’ve always like my room. Though there are lots of times I can recall feeling trapped in here, just wanting to get out and do things and be with people. It’s not like that so much now. I find myself wanting to stay in more often than not. Maybe it’s just a phase. I’m not sad! Don’t get me wrong. Call it more of a safe haven. You guys know how much of a dreamer I am, and in my room my mind just wanders. Anything is possible.
In the past, I think if you asked me what I wanted I’d say something like, “Uh I don’t know। Well। . . work with people and help them.” Which was true but other than that I really didn’t have the slightest clue. What am I saying? I still don’t know. However, I feel like things are starting to become a little clearer. More ideas sound and look actually doable. I think me wanting to be a teacher has been something that’s been in the back of my mind for a long time. *shrugs* hopefully it doesn’t seem too crazy/ridiculous of an idea. And also you know how I keep talking about the places I want to go? I really feel that I have more drive to take the necessary steps to accomplish the goals I sputter out there. (or at least attempt to. I’ll crawl/roll/sneak attack my way there if I have to damnit!) hahah. Sometimes I feel like I get that “look” [the oh how cute she wants to travel such youthful thinking. Or that’s most likely not going to happen, at least not for a long time] from people when I’d say, “yeahh I’m planning on going to Japan/India/Egypt/Greece etc” It seems like the “Fuck you, I’m going to do it” spirit is starting to kick in! hahahah.
Yes I do know that there’s still a whole lot of things I need to do in order to get what I want, but now I’m willing to do it. You know? And yet, there’s a shit load that I’m still clueless about. Did I just contradict myself? Ugh sorry I’m just babbling. xD
“Nothing in this world happens without a reason. That we are all exactly where we are supposed to be, and that the pieces of the puzzle have a tendency to come together when you least expect it.”
Question: Have you all reread the tarot card readings that Lizz did for us on Halloween? [Gah! I wanna go to Hallowscream!! Teehee] mine is sort of spot on। especially with this one recently:
Obstacles: Page of Cups
“Frustration… the Page seeks attention and has difficulty expressing his feelings in a positive way. He may be a child or young person in your life who is going through a difficult phase.” I think this card could either be a person in your life, perhaps a male you’re interested in or who’s interested in you, or it could be you yourself, going through the “difficult phase” of adjusting to adulthood.
Yeah. Well the Mark chapter from the Great Book of Chrissy’s Loves has ended [for now, we might resume come summer. Options. Options.] Near the end of winter break I went out to lunch with Mama to Panera. We talked a lot. I complained about Zach and Mark. [Zach-needs someone to knock some sense into him. Mark-he’s too fucking nice.] My poor mother had to listen to me contradict myself about mark so much that she asked what I liked about him. After gushing all the things I liked she stated, "It seems you love Mark.”
“SHUT UP!” I screeched in such a defensive way that it is beyond embarrassing. And then I realized I just shouted at my mother in a public place and felt horrible. Mama wasn’t offended. She was amused and said my response was sincere. I also apologized a bazillion times. Lol.
Yes I loved Mark. Up until that time with my Mama I don’t think anyone has said that out loud. Sure I’d say, “I like Mark soo much. . . and I love this about him.” But I don’t think I’ve ever admitted to myself of actually loving him in the serious sort of way. “Love” was a word I avoided associating with Mark because I think it would have hurt too much. Mama said it made sense. Mark and I have a really good friendship. I mean it’s really good. We’re comfortable with each other. I didn’t want to ruin it. So when Mama said, “It seems you love Mark” it felt like a huge weight was lifted off me. Finally, someone said out loud what I was too scared to admit. Because I recognized it, I feel so much lighter. Is that odd?
I haven’t recently thought much about him. That might have to do with the fact that someone else has sort of caught my eye. But there’s nothing really interesting to report. I’ll just say he’s Class of ’09, taller than me, looks fit in general. Oh and he’s white. Be proud, I’m branching out. =p So guess you could say he’s a bounce-back crush? Who knows, it could be more. Mmm will just wait and see. Options. Options. If anything I’d like to actually develop a friendship with him. [erm more than just a “hi I sit next to you” type friendship]
Uh-oh Zach is in town. Guess I should go and hangout with him sometime this weekend. Here’s the run down on Zach. He didn’t go into the Army because of some screw up paperwork that wasn’t his fault. So, he’s staying in Richmond with his aunt and uncle (I think) and going to some community college up there. Zach’s dad was the one who suggested he go to Richmond to at least get out of the house. Zach’s going to get his education first then join the army or go into the army through ROTC. Yep yep cool cool.
Near future: Ace of Wands
“Delay… the timing is not right for what you want to create… this causes frustration… success is within reach, however, and with patience it will come.”
Patience. Ahh patience, how I wish we could be better friends. How are you all doing? I still miss you guys bunches! Sorry if I totally and completely bored you to death. I’ll try to write about something more interesting next time! =] So for the time being, I’ll just focus on my studies more. 3.7 GPA or higher! LET’S GO! Lolol.
..::Chris::..
In the past, I think if you asked me what I wanted I’d say something like, “Uh I don’t know। Well। . . work with people and help them.” Which was true but other than that I really didn’t have the slightest clue. What am I saying? I still don’t know. However, I feel like things are starting to become a little clearer. More ideas sound and look actually doable. I think me wanting to be a teacher has been something that’s been in the back of my mind for a long time. *shrugs* hopefully it doesn’t seem too crazy/ridiculous of an idea. And also you know how I keep talking about the places I want to go? I really feel that I have more drive to take the necessary steps to accomplish the goals I sputter out there. (or at least attempt to. I’ll crawl/roll/sneak attack my way there if I have to damnit!) hahah. Sometimes I feel like I get that “look” [the oh how cute she wants to travel such youthful thinking. Or that’s most likely not going to happen, at least not for a long time] from people when I’d say, “yeahh I’m planning on going to Japan/India/Egypt/Greece etc” It seems like the “Fuck you, I’m going to do it” spirit is starting to kick in! hahahah.
Yes I do know that there’s still a whole lot of things I need to do in order to get what I want, but now I’m willing to do it. You know? And yet, there’s a shit load that I’m still clueless about. Did I just contradict myself? Ugh sorry I’m just babbling. xD
“Nothing in this world happens without a reason. That we are all exactly where we are supposed to be, and that the pieces of the puzzle have a tendency to come together when you least expect it.”
Question: Have you all reread the tarot card readings that Lizz did for us on Halloween? [Gah! I wanna go to Hallowscream!! Teehee] mine is sort of spot on। especially with this one recently:
Obstacles: Page of Cups
“Frustration… the Page seeks attention and has difficulty expressing his feelings in a positive way. He may be a child or young person in your life who is going through a difficult phase.” I think this card could either be a person in your life, perhaps a male you’re interested in or who’s interested in you, or it could be you yourself, going through the “difficult phase” of adjusting to adulthood.
Yeah. Well the Mark chapter from the Great Book of Chrissy’s Loves has ended [for now, we might resume come summer. Options. Options.] Near the end of winter break I went out to lunch with Mama to Panera. We talked a lot. I complained about Zach and Mark. [Zach-needs someone to knock some sense into him. Mark-he’s too fucking nice.] My poor mother had to listen to me contradict myself about mark so much that she asked what I liked about him. After gushing all the things I liked she stated, "It seems you love Mark.”
“SHUT UP!” I screeched in such a defensive way that it is beyond embarrassing. And then I realized I just shouted at my mother in a public place and felt horrible. Mama wasn’t offended. She was amused and said my response was sincere. I also apologized a bazillion times. Lol.
Yes I loved Mark. Up until that time with my Mama I don’t think anyone has said that out loud. Sure I’d say, “I like Mark soo much. . . and I love this about him.” But I don’t think I’ve ever admitted to myself of actually loving him in the serious sort of way. “Love” was a word I avoided associating with Mark because I think it would have hurt too much. Mama said it made sense. Mark and I have a really good friendship. I mean it’s really good. We’re comfortable with each other. I didn’t want to ruin it. So when Mama said, “It seems you love Mark” it felt like a huge weight was lifted off me. Finally, someone said out loud what I was too scared to admit. Because I recognized it, I feel so much lighter. Is that odd?
I haven’t recently thought much about him. That might have to do with the fact that someone else has sort of caught my eye. But there’s nothing really interesting to report. I’ll just say he’s Class of ’09, taller than me, looks fit in general. Oh and he’s white. Be proud, I’m branching out. =p So guess you could say he’s a bounce-back crush? Who knows, it could be more. Mmm will just wait and see. Options. Options. If anything I’d like to actually develop a friendship with him. [erm more than just a “hi I sit next to you” type friendship]
Uh-oh Zach is in town. Guess I should go and hangout with him sometime this weekend. Here’s the run down on Zach. He didn’t go into the Army because of some screw up paperwork that wasn’t his fault. So, he’s staying in Richmond with his aunt and uncle (I think) and going to some community college up there. Zach’s dad was the one who suggested he go to Richmond to at least get out of the house. Zach’s going to get his education first then join the army or go into the army through ROTC. Yep yep cool cool.
Near future: Ace of Wands
“Delay… the timing is not right for what you want to create… this causes frustration… success is within reach, however, and with patience it will come.”
Patience. Ahh patience, how I wish we could be better friends. How are you all doing? I still miss you guys bunches! Sorry if I totally and completely bored you to death. I’ll try to write about something more interesting next time! =] So for the time being, I’ll just focus on my studies more. 3.7 GPA or higher! LET’S GO! Lolol.
..::Chris::..
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