Well, I survived finals week. It was a long tiring week and the decompression is in full swing. Needless to say, my brain is tired. It wasn't too rough, I mean I don't want to do it again until I have to or anything like that, but hey, it could have been a lot worse.
Monday's Geography exam was incredibly easy. I didn't even study for it. After all, I needed at least a 68 to maintain an A in that class, and I'd probably wind up with another 94 on my test. Exam started at 7, I was home BEFORE 8 o'clock. Keep in mind the campus is about 30 minutes from my house.
Tuesday... Government. Holy crap, where do I begin. I studied my face off for this exam and by the time I got to class to wait for the exam, I didn't even want to open my notes I had read them so much. As I'm sitting, I made small talk with my Air Force friend and one of the other people in my class. We were sitting there and I hear this statement from the table around the corner, where a few of my classmates were sitting.
"You know what?... F##K THIS! I'm just going to drop this class."
I came real close to calling this idiot out, but a random girl studying at another table set this guy straight for me. "You can't drop this class."
Dude: "Yeah I can, someone told me so."
Girl: "Who told you that?"
Dude: "Someone at the admissions office, they said I can drop until the last day."
Girl: "Well, I work in the advising office and the last day to drop and not receive an F was over a month ago. Whoever told you that LIED and if you decide you're going to drop this class you're going to get an F and have to re-take it."
Dude: "Oh... S##t." **pages turning**
One of the girls that the dude was sitting with just flat out said, "Forget it, I'm leaving" and WALKED OUT. I think I need to mention that the dude in question here is the musclehead guy that I think I described in my first post about my Government class, and the girl that walked out is one of the bitchy girls that sat near the front on the other side of the room from me.
The test was standard Dr. Government where we had to just write down, word for word, what he had us write in our notes. As much as I loved his passion for what he was teaching, I hated his method. I didn't learn much of anything in that class and what I did memorize, I've already forgotten and it's only a few days later. Test was hard, but I did well.
English final wasn't bad either. I had my notes and prepared for it a few nights ahead of time. We had to write a three page paper, HAND WRITE, in class, analyzing three poems using three different lenses. This was probably the thing about this class that I enjoyed the most, and I'm glad that final wound up being this particular subject. It's fun to see what you can turn a poem about something random, like a tree, and make it be about sex or two different classes of people fighting or something strange like that. After the final, I felt confident in my paper, and I also felt a really dull throb and cramping in my hand. After all is said and done, I enjoyed this class the most out of all of them.
THURSDAY. FINAL FINAL! Here it was... we had to listen to five pieces of music, identify the title, go on to name the composer, time period, genre and any other info to prove our point. Then we had to select two of those to write a short essay about. I wrote about a page and a half and it really hurt to write ANYTHING after that, my hand was killing me. It's Saturday morning now and my hand still hurts. I'm not incredibly confident in my essay, it was totally not my best work, neither was my essay that I had to turn in in this class about the last concert I went to. I think I lost my motivation in this class a few weeks back. It really started to suck there for a while.
So, I took Friday off of work. Slept in. Made myself a badass breakfast and had the house to myself for a while. I broke out the ol' Nintendo and jammed some Mario 3 and hung out on the couch with the dog for most of the day. It was incredible to sit and do nothing, not have to study, not have to go to work, not have to write an essay or do anything at all. Today, will be more of the same. I'm really looking for my time off over Christmas and New Year's.
I'll post more once I have my final grades for the semester. Have a great weekend!
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
It's about time
I can't tell you how ready I am for this semester to be over with. I am halfway through what I guess you would call a "review week" before finals next week. Today in government, I almost lost my mind.
There's some weather blowing through town, standard stuff for this time of year. When we get a cold front through, it's usually preceded by a thunderstorm or two. Sitting waiting for Dr. Government to give us the last of our notes, the lights flickered and went out. That was the last thing I wanted to happen. I don't NEED a good grade on this exam to pass or anything, but I have enough pride in my school work to want to do well, and also, well, my school will not be paid for if I don't maintain my GPA.
Knowing this is probably... ok this IS my hardest class right now, I need the review. When the power came on, one of the bitchy girls in class said "I hope it goes off again and we get to go home." I almost lost my mind.
[Student]"Really? So you don't want to review for the exam we are having next week that is worth a good portion of your grade?
Bitchy Girl: No, I hate this class.
[Student] So, you don't like the class which makes it ok if you fail?
Bitchy Girl: I guess.
Ok, I don't like to wish bad things on people, but now I HOPE this chick fails. Why don't people care? I guess she'll just have mommy and daddy pay for another semester when she fails this class. Few more review days, and it's finals time. I'll be busy all weekend and until next week after finals are done. I'll be sure to pass on my thoughts on the exams as well as grades once I have them. Full disclosure here, people! I'll be taking some much needed time off of work once this is over.
There's some weather blowing through town, standard stuff for this time of year. When we get a cold front through, it's usually preceded by a thunderstorm or two. Sitting waiting for Dr. Government to give us the last of our notes, the lights flickered and went out. That was the last thing I wanted to happen. I don't NEED a good grade on this exam to pass or anything, but I have enough pride in my school work to want to do well, and also, well, my school will not be paid for if I don't maintain my GPA.
Knowing this is probably... ok this IS my hardest class right now, I need the review. When the power came on, one of the bitchy girls in class said "I hope it goes off again and we get to go home." I almost lost my mind.
[Student]"Really? So you don't want to review for the exam we are having next week that is worth a good portion of your grade?
Bitchy Girl: No, I hate this class.
[Student] So, you don't like the class which makes it ok if you fail?
Bitchy Girl: I guess.
Ok, I don't like to wish bad things on people, but now I HOPE this chick fails. Why don't people care? I guess she'll just have mommy and daddy pay for another semester when she fails this class. Few more review days, and it's finals time. I'll be busy all weekend and until next week after finals are done. I'll be sure to pass on my thoughts on the exams as well as grades once I have them. Full disclosure here, people! I'll be taking some much needed time off of work once this is over.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
The Fallout
So, here is the post test-test-paper-paper fallout. Well, the majority of it.
Geography test was one of those where after I took it, it felt way too easy. It was on Oceania (Australia and all of the Pacific islands) and all of east and south Asia. Whenever I was unsure of an answer I did the process of elimination thing with my answer choices. It can't be A because of this, or B because of that... most of the time the answer wound up being Indonesia. I walked out of the room thinking "Man, Indonesia was either always the correct answer, or Indonesia really screwed me."
Result: I got a 94 on this test. Before any bonus points or anything on ALL of the tests in this class I've gotten a 94. I hope he doesn't think I'm cheating.
The following week, the week of Thanksgiving I turned in a paper and I got a 93 on it. We had a book report due on the five themes of geography that are contained in the book we had to read. The book I had to read was really good, and his main critique of my paper said that I basically should have spelled out the theme I was going to write about.
I'm pretty sure this is college, and I shouldn't have to say "The next theme I am going to write about is interaction with the environment." All of my changes of themes went something like "One instance of place contained in this book is... "
Meh. Either way, I got a 93 on that paper. He also handed us each a sheet that had our grades on it and what we need on the final to to make an A, B, etc... I can get a 68 on the final and still get an A in his class. I rule.
Government test was a hideous bitch. LOTS of memorization and it was really just one big pump and dump. I filled in what I could where I knew things, and for the most part I knew it. The following week when we went back to class he told us a breakdown. The class average went DOWN by about 15 pts if I remember right and he broke it down by grades. There were 2 A's, 1 B.... and the rest were C's, D's and F's.
I got the B. Once I read my grade I almost did a backflip. That test was awful. Apparently this was the hardest test he'll give out, so the final should be easier.
I handed in my second and THANK GOD final paper on Hamlet today. Not my best work by any means, but hey, it got handed in. I'll do real well on the final, which is a poetry analysis that we have to do in class. Hopefully that pulls my grade and I can maintain a B.
That's all for now. I'll try and post at least one more time before finals are over with.
Geography test was one of those where after I took it, it felt way too easy. It was on Oceania (Australia and all of the Pacific islands) and all of east and south Asia. Whenever I was unsure of an answer I did the process of elimination thing with my answer choices. It can't be A because of this, or B because of that... most of the time the answer wound up being Indonesia. I walked out of the room thinking "Man, Indonesia was either always the correct answer, or Indonesia really screwed me."
Result: I got a 94 on this test. Before any bonus points or anything on ALL of the tests in this class I've gotten a 94. I hope he doesn't think I'm cheating.
The following week, the week of Thanksgiving I turned in a paper and I got a 93 on it. We had a book report due on the five themes of geography that are contained in the book we had to read. The book I had to read was really good, and his main critique of my paper said that I basically should have spelled out the theme I was going to write about.
I'm pretty sure this is college, and I shouldn't have to say "The next theme I am going to write about is interaction with the environment." All of my changes of themes went something like "One instance of place contained in this book is... "
Meh. Either way, I got a 93 on that paper. He also handed us each a sheet that had our grades on it and what we need on the final to to make an A, B, etc... I can get a 68 on the final and still get an A in his class. I rule.
Government test was a hideous bitch. LOTS of memorization and it was really just one big pump and dump. I filled in what I could where I knew things, and for the most part I knew it. The following week when we went back to class he told us a breakdown. The class average went DOWN by about 15 pts if I remember right and he broke it down by grades. There were 2 A's, 1 B.... and the rest were C's, D's and F's.
I got the B. Once I read my grade I almost did a backflip. That test was awful. Apparently this was the hardest test he'll give out, so the final should be easier.
I handed in my second and THANK GOD final paper on Hamlet today. Not my best work by any means, but hey, it got handed in. I'll do real well on the final, which is a poetry analysis that we have to do in class. Hopefully that pulls my grade and I can maintain a B.
That's all for now. I'll try and post at least one more time before finals are over with.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Analyze This.
Tonight's English class was really interesting. We've left Shakespeare safely behind (Paper is due after the holiday, but we're not covering it in class anymore) and we're moving on to poetry. Tonight, was all about analysis. Mr. English eased us into this with some familiar material, moving on to some more difficult things.
One of the things he had us analyze were some common nursery rhymes. One of which was Jack and Jill.
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
Same thing since you were a kid, right? Well, I had a different take on it. Jack is in a position of power. Jill is his mistress. They run off (went up the hill) to engage in some extra-marital activities (to fetch a pail of water, water is satisfying) Jack got found out (Jack fell down) and lost his power (broke his crown) and then Jill was chastised for participating in this affair as well. (And Jill came tumbling after)
It's not wrong if you can somehow back it up, apparently.
So, then we did a couple of other nursery rhymes, and a few actual poems. Then, he decided we we were going to do a song. So, he brings up a video with the lyrics for... Hotel California.
I hate The Eagles.
I groan and he stops in his tracks and says "What, you don't like this song?"
Student- "No. I don't. I really can't stand this song."
Girl sitting next to me- "WHAT??!? How can you NOT like The Red Hot Chili Peppers!?!?"
Mr. English and I both laughed. Like, loud and a lot. I'm not sure if that's better or worse than the other girl that though that Led Zeppelin wrote "Welcome To The Jungle".
One of the things he had us analyze were some common nursery rhymes. One of which was Jack and Jill.
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
Same thing since you were a kid, right? Well, I had a different take on it. Jack is in a position of power. Jill is his mistress. They run off (went up the hill) to engage in some extra-marital activities (to fetch a pail of water, water is satisfying) Jack got found out (Jack fell down) and lost his power (broke his crown) and then Jill was chastised for participating in this affair as well. (And Jill came tumbling after)
It's not wrong if you can somehow back it up, apparently.
So, then we did a couple of other nursery rhymes, and a few actual poems. Then, he decided we we were going to do a song. So, he brings up a video with the lyrics for... Hotel California.
I hate The Eagles.
I groan and he stops in his tracks and says "What, you don't like this song?"
Student- "No. I don't. I really can't stand this song."
Girl sitting next to me- "WHAT??!? How can you NOT like The Red Hot Chili Peppers!?!?"
Mr. English and I both laughed. Like, loud and a lot. I'm not sure if that's better or worse than the other girl that though that Led Zeppelin wrote "Welcome To The Jungle".
Monday, November 12, 2012
I feel five pounds lighter!
No, the title of this is NOT a poo joke, but it would have been funny, wouldn't it?
Last week was a lot of prep for this horrific week I have in front of me. Test, Test, Paper due... Last Wednesday night was a great relief for me though, thanks to Mr. English.
Roll into class and the first and only thing on my mind was that paper we turned in the week before. Once he gets to class and starts setting his things up, I had to ask. "So, how bad were those Hamlet papers?"
"Surprisingly not too bad. I'll be handing them out shortly. I was pretty easy on people for the most part, but should you have gotten an A on this essay, you deserved an A on this essay."
That wasn't too harsh, I'm still expecting a C or so on this thing. Once we get started he pulls the papers out of his bag on his desk and puts a slide on the projector with a short list of about six items, saying "If you screwed up on the paper, here's what you probably did." As he explained what each item was I realized, I had done none of the mistakes listed on here. Maybe I got a B.
I get my paper back and to my SURPRISE I got an A+ on it. Hot diggity damn! That makes me feel much better. After those all got passed out he changes the subject to the next paper we have due on Hamlet.
"I know I said this longer essay was going to be due on the 15th, but I'm going to change that. Your papers are due on the 29th, the week after Thanksgiving."
HALLELUJAH, PRAISE THE LORD! This gives me TWO EXTRA WEEKS and a whole lot more time to study for geography and government which I desperately need. Well, at least for government, I'm pretty sure I've got geography nailed down.
I've also figured out a new study tactic. I was reading through my government stuff on Saturday when I realized... Hey, I've got this nifty voice recorder app on my phone, I should record myself reading my notes and listen to it all day at work on Monday and Tuesday! Why didn't I think of this earlier. So here I am at work, blogging, and listening to my notes on congress. Suppose I should get some actual work done. I'll post how my tests went once I get grades back.
Last week was a lot of prep for this horrific week I have in front of me. Test, Test, Paper due... Last Wednesday night was a great relief for me though, thanks to Mr. English.
Roll into class and the first and only thing on my mind was that paper we turned in the week before. Once he gets to class and starts setting his things up, I had to ask. "So, how bad were those Hamlet papers?"
"Surprisingly not too bad. I'll be handing them out shortly. I was pretty easy on people for the most part, but should you have gotten an A on this essay, you deserved an A on this essay."
That wasn't too harsh, I'm still expecting a C or so on this thing. Once we get started he pulls the papers out of his bag on his desk and puts a slide on the projector with a short list of about six items, saying "If you screwed up on the paper, here's what you probably did." As he explained what each item was I realized, I had done none of the mistakes listed on here. Maybe I got a B.
I get my paper back and to my SURPRISE I got an A+ on it. Hot diggity damn! That makes me feel much better. After those all got passed out he changes the subject to the next paper we have due on Hamlet.
"I know I said this longer essay was going to be due on the 15th, but I'm going to change that. Your papers are due on the 29th, the week after Thanksgiving."
HALLELUJAH, PRAISE THE LORD! This gives me TWO EXTRA WEEKS and a whole lot more time to study for geography and government which I desperately need. Well, at least for government, I'm pretty sure I've got geography nailed down.
I've also figured out a new study tactic. I was reading through my government stuff on Saturday when I realized... Hey, I've got this nifty voice recorder app on my phone, I should record myself reading my notes and listen to it all day at work on Monday and Tuesday! Why didn't I think of this earlier. So here I am at work, blogging, and listening to my notes on congress. Suppose I should get some actual work done. I'll post how my tests went once I get grades back.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Let's see what else I can have in one month..
So, it's been a while. Here's what's up.
It's the start of a new month and the semester is winding down. Naturally, that means I have EVERYTHING possible going on as far as school. Here's what I've got:
Today is Nov. 6.
Test in Geography- Nov. 12
Test in Government- Nov. 13
Major paper due on Hamlet in English- Nov. 14
Book report due in Geography- Nov. 19
Final concert report due in Music- Nov. 29
Yeah, that's what I've got going on. Next week with the two tests and the paper is going to be killer. I've got off tonight because it's election day and Dr. Government has decided to throw a party at his house instead of teaching class, so, I'll be studying and possibly writing that Hamlet paper.
On top of all that, I have a wedding to attend next weekend, company in town THIS weekend and well, work. I knew this was going to be like this for the next few years. I can handle it... I can handle it...
As far as dumb stuff happening in class, nothing really major has happened since I last posted, and I'm quite surprised. I guess all of the idiots have dropped. It's about that time where you can drop a class and not get penalized for it. I think it's this week, actually. Hopefully the herd thins out and the dumber ones get lost.
I'll be sure to post again when I can. I really didn't think it would get to the point where I would be this busy, but hey, this stuff happens!
It's the start of a new month and the semester is winding down. Naturally, that means I have EVERYTHING possible going on as far as school. Here's what I've got:
Today is Nov. 6.
Test in Geography- Nov. 12
Test in Government- Nov. 13
Major paper due on Hamlet in English- Nov. 14
Book report due in Geography- Nov. 19
Final concert report due in Music- Nov. 29
Yeah, that's what I've got going on. Next week with the two tests and the paper is going to be killer. I've got off tonight because it's election day and Dr. Government has decided to throw a party at his house instead of teaching class, so, I'll be studying and possibly writing that Hamlet paper.
On top of all that, I have a wedding to attend next weekend, company in town THIS weekend and well, work. I knew this was going to be like this for the next few years. I can handle it... I can handle it...
As far as dumb stuff happening in class, nothing really major has happened since I last posted, and I'm quite surprised. I guess all of the idiots have dropped. It's about that time where you can drop a class and not get penalized for it. I think it's this week, actually. Hopefully the herd thins out and the dumber ones get lost.
I'll be sure to post again when I can. I really didn't think it would get to the point where I would be this busy, but hey, this stuff happens!
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Da Bomb
So, everything is pretty much status quo. Nothing out of the ordinary over the past week and a half or so since I've been on here. Dr. Government is still crazy. All the damn kids in my classes are still damn kids. I haven't had any grades come back since that last Geography test that I totally kicked in the balls. I did have that Hamlet paper to turn in, but it didn't quite get ALL THE WAY turned in... and here's what this blog post is about...
So, Mr. English has this thing, where he sends a text message to a someone, and then his whole class gets a text from him. I guess that's for his own liability purposes or something, so that people can't say he's texting them directly or something like that... anyway.
Usually his texts consist of something like "Expect a quiz on your reading tomorrow." or "Don't forget to turn in your papers online." Yesterday, I received a message saying "Bomb threat at campus. Please stay away from school until further notice. Class is cancelled unless you hear otherwise from me."
Wow, really? Who calls in a bomb threat to a community college in this freaking part of town? What's more disturbing is that there have been a rash of these going on in Texas for some reason. UT, A&M, TSU, Sam Houston State, and now my little college. What the hell, man? I mean, it was probably an empty threat, but at the same time, we cannot afford to take this lightly. Because even if it's bullshit 90% of the time, there's still that 10% where people get hurt. Gnomesayin?
My thoughts on that are this: Someone had a test, or an assignment due that they weren't ready for and had to buy themselves some time. So, what's a student to do? Stay up late? Not watch TV or play video games? Not go hang out with your idiot friends? Of course not, I'll just call in a bomb threat! Brilliant!
Look, I mean I'm not one to say I wasn't there at one point in time. My first attempt at a post high school education, I blew it big time. I probably had a similar mindset as a lot of these other people, but dammit... DO YOUR WORK. I stayed up late the night before this paper was due and got my stuff handled. It sucked and I was tired the next day, but hey, it's worth it. And you aren't just screwing over the people in your class, but the WHOLE CAMPUS.
So, my paper is turned in online to the anti-plagiarism website, and I need to bring a hard copy with me next week when I go to class. It really irritates me that this happened, we have a test that he was supposed to prepare us for, and I'm wondering how that's going to play out now. I'll just have to start studying all of Hamlet. Balls.
On the plus side, I did get to stay home, relax and spend time with my family last night. It was kinda nice. It reminded me of, well, not being in school. It'll be nice when this is all over with and I don't have to spend twelve hours away from them almost every day.
So, Mr. English has this thing, where he sends a text message to a someone, and then his whole class gets a text from him. I guess that's for his own liability purposes or something, so that people can't say he's texting them directly or something like that... anyway.
Usually his texts consist of something like "Expect a quiz on your reading tomorrow." or "Don't forget to turn in your papers online." Yesterday, I received a message saying "Bomb threat at campus. Please stay away from school until further notice. Class is cancelled unless you hear otherwise from me."
Wow, really? Who calls in a bomb threat to a community college in this freaking part of town? What's more disturbing is that there have been a rash of these going on in Texas for some reason. UT, A&M, TSU, Sam Houston State, and now my little college. What the hell, man? I mean, it was probably an empty threat, but at the same time, we cannot afford to take this lightly. Because even if it's bullshit 90% of the time, there's still that 10% where people get hurt. Gnomesayin?
My thoughts on that are this: Someone had a test, or an assignment due that they weren't ready for and had to buy themselves some time. So, what's a student to do? Stay up late? Not watch TV or play video games? Not go hang out with your idiot friends? Of course not, I'll just call in a bomb threat! Brilliant!
Look, I mean I'm not one to say I wasn't there at one point in time. My first attempt at a post high school education, I blew it big time. I probably had a similar mindset as a lot of these other people, but dammit... DO YOUR WORK. I stayed up late the night before this paper was due and got my stuff handled. It sucked and I was tired the next day, but hey, it's worth it. And you aren't just screwing over the people in your class, but the WHOLE CAMPUS.
So, my paper is turned in online to the anti-plagiarism website, and I need to bring a hard copy with me next week when I go to class. It really irritates me that this happened, we have a test that he was supposed to prepare us for, and I'm wondering how that's going to play out now. I'll just have to start studying all of Hamlet. Balls.
On the plus side, I did get to stay home, relax and spend time with my family last night. It was kinda nice. It reminded me of, well, not being in school. It'll be nice when this is all over with and I don't have to spend twelve hours away from them almost every day.
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