New Year's Eve/Day really puts things into perspective, doesn't it?
Just like at the end of each semester, at the end of the year I can't help but think back and say "Man, where did the time go?... And how did I spend it?"
And I still don't have an answer.
There are 8,760 hours in a year. This his how I've broken them down:
270 were spent in spring semester classes.
288 were spent in fall semester classes.
300 or so were spent working at Blockbuster over summer vacation.
100 + hours were spent chatting online.
2,372 were spent sleeping... ish
and TOO MANY were spent watching TV...
That totals about 3,330 hours...
That leaves 5,430 hours unaccounted for. Dude, how did I spend that time? Homework, I suppose. And eating. And more chatting online. And the biggest time-waster in the world - Facebook.
Oh, yes... it's always interesting. I've considered logging how much time I actually spend on Facebook. But then I decided I really don't want to know. Plus, I wouldn't have the time to add up the time I spend on Facebook because I'll be too busy wasting time on Facebook to do it. How ironic.
I can't really say I've made any resolutions. I'm not a big resolution-maker. Goals are good, but these long-term resolutions? Bleh... that's a bit daunting, thank you. I'll pass.
I could always make new semester resolutions, but the only really good one I can come up with is "I promise to stay on top of my reading and long-term assignments..." and that works almost as long as those New Year's diet plans...
I'm not a pooh-pooher of New Years. I like New Years a lot. A lot a lot. It's a fresh start for resolution-makers and non-resolution makers alike. I don't know if I'll force too many changes upon myself, but I think knowing that now is my opportunity to do so feels good. It's like "here I am, at the begining of a whole new year, with the chance to make some big changes in my life... and I may or may not take advantage of that." It's kind of along those same lines of being invited to a party you don't want to go to, but you still feel good that you were invited.
I think I also like it because it means, in my family at least, that it's time to take down the Christmas decorations. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas (and its decorations), but it feels good to take it down and get back to real life. I feel like Christmas is this joyus two-month hiatus at the end of the year where everybody unwinds and looks back on a year well-done... or not well-done... whichever. It's fun and I love it, but it's nice to jump back into real life. It looks like the house is starting fresh, too.
So, here were are... on the brink of 2008. The year my brother will graduate high school and move to college. The year my parents will celebrate their 22nd wedding anniversary. The year I will begin the second half of my college education and GET A CAR. So this is it.... this is the metaphorical and daunting "click, click, click" as our helpess little cars trek up the roller coster. We're looking over the edge, ready for that ball to fall and go hurtling down a 366-day drop which will not go nearly as fast as you remember it.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
White Christmas
On Christmas Eve my family and I went to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and saw Irving Berlin's White Christmas. I'd seen the movie before, but never seen the show. It was good, but different than the movie. And they sprayed fake snow on the audience in the end.
We saw White Christmas and then the day after we GOT a white Christmas. It was beautiful. It snowed all day long. I took pictures, of course.
We saw White Christmas and then the day after we GOT a white Christmas. It was beautiful. It snowed all day long. I took pictures, of course.
End of the Semester and Finals
The thing about the end of the semester is that in retrospect it always seems to have flown by. Seriously. After finals week is over suddenly it feels like August was two weeks ago. Then again, while it's happening it seems to drag... and drag... and drag... and the only thought that keeps you going is winter break and the symbolic end of the current classes.
I was less than jazzed about my classes this semester. I dunno... I just got sick of them really quickly. Some of that is my fault, I suppose. I took a math class way below my level just for the easy A. Sure, the class was easy, but I still had to show up for class for two painful hours every Tuesday and Thursday... and no amount of doodling could make it better. That didn't stop me from trying, though.
I had a history class, and while the material was interesting, the room it was in was stifling hot and the professor's voice was so deep that the combination of the two made me want to fall asleep.
Strangely enough, my favorite class this semester had to be political science. That was a shock. I took AP American Government in high school and got a 3 on the exam... too bad Drake requires a 4 to give you any credit for it. So I took the class for fifty minutes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and it was actually not that bad. It was interesting and the professor was great (Mosser, if you have a chance to take it).
Admittedly, I didn't take the best attitude with me into the semester. I wasn't gung-ho for classes to start. Well, I was but I wasn't. I was because biologically speaking, my brain knows that every August for the past 14 years or so it has to clear out the cobwebs and puddles of sitcom poison that have accumulated over the summer and actually apply itself to do something useful. And I wasn't excited because I knew I was taking a couple of those required courses which kind of get a bad rap... and that professors actually expected things from me now that I was a sophomore... enjoy being a freshman, kids.
It wasn't that bad, I guess... I supposed the bottom line is this: I just didn't feel as challenged as I was expecting to be. Correction... I didn't feel as challenged as I was expecting to be in the courses that should have challenged me... like the journalism ones. Oh well, from what I hear next semester will change that ;)
This was also the first semester I had several finals. The worst of which had to be political science. Youch. I don't feel like I necessarily struggled with it, but it was intense anyway. For history we were allowed to have a page of notes. I like that, but I don't at the same time. I feel like when I get a page of notes I don't study as hard because I'm thinking "well, I get notes...” and I feel like I spend more time on the exam looking through my size 4 font notes instead of relying on the information in my brain. But it worked out. I think I did fairly well. I tanked my math final, which was weird. It was a 50-point quiz and I got 38 I think. What's that? A 76? That's not "tanking" I guess but keeping in mind the course was way below my level, it's a little embarrassing. What's worse is that I actually studied for that one. Not that it makes a difference. I could have ripped up the final and walked out of the testing room and still gotten an A in the class. I took a required journalism design course and our final was an in-class practicum, which was nothing to sweat. We were allowed notes for that one, too. But I was feeling cocky and didn't bother. The only class I really didn't have a final for was my magazine writing class. We had our big feature article due on our final day and I did well on that. We also had to take a little quiz about how realistic our expectations are of the magazine industry. Guess what? I'm going to be poor, and I know it! Yay! What's money mean if you're doing something you love, anyway?
I was less than jazzed about my classes this semester. I dunno... I just got sick of them really quickly. Some of that is my fault, I suppose. I took a math class way below my level just for the easy A. Sure, the class was easy, but I still had to show up for class for two painful hours every Tuesday and Thursday... and no amount of doodling could make it better. That didn't stop me from trying, though.
I had a history class, and while the material was interesting, the room it was in was stifling hot and the professor's voice was so deep that the combination of the two made me want to fall asleep.
Strangely enough, my favorite class this semester had to be political science. That was a shock. I took AP American Government in high school and got a 3 on the exam... too bad Drake requires a 4 to give you any credit for it. So I took the class for fifty minutes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and it was actually not that bad. It was interesting and the professor was great (Mosser, if you have a chance to take it).
Admittedly, I didn't take the best attitude with me into the semester. I wasn't gung-ho for classes to start. Well, I was but I wasn't. I was because biologically speaking, my brain knows that every August for the past 14 years or so it has to clear out the cobwebs and puddles of sitcom poison that have accumulated over the summer and actually apply itself to do something useful. And I wasn't excited because I knew I was taking a couple of those required courses which kind of get a bad rap... and that professors actually expected things from me now that I was a sophomore... enjoy being a freshman, kids.
It wasn't that bad, I guess... I supposed the bottom line is this: I just didn't feel as challenged as I was expecting to be. Correction... I didn't feel as challenged as I was expecting to be in the courses that should have challenged me... like the journalism ones. Oh well, from what I hear next semester will change that ;)
This was also the first semester I had several finals. The worst of which had to be political science. Youch. I don't feel like I necessarily struggled with it, but it was intense anyway. For history we were allowed to have a page of notes. I like that, but I don't at the same time. I feel like when I get a page of notes I don't study as hard because I'm thinking "well, I get notes...” and I feel like I spend more time on the exam looking through my size 4 font notes instead of relying on the information in my brain. But it worked out. I think I did fairly well. I tanked my math final, which was weird. It was a 50-point quiz and I got 38 I think. What's that? A 76? That's not "tanking" I guess but keeping in mind the course was way below my level, it's a little embarrassing. What's worse is that I actually studied for that one. Not that it makes a difference. I could have ripped up the final and walked out of the testing room and still gotten an A in the class. I took a required journalism design course and our final was an in-class practicum, which was nothing to sweat. We were allowed notes for that one, too. But I was feeling cocky and didn't bother. The only class I really didn't have a final for was my magazine writing class. We had our big feature article due on our final day and I did well on that. We also had to take a little quiz about how realistic our expectations are of the magazine industry. Guess what? I'm going to be poor, and I know it! Yay! What's money mean if you're doing something you love, anyway?
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Ice, ice, Baby!
I think i might have had maybe... two snow days in my life. Maybe. Just this last Tuesday school was cancelled, but it wasn't really a snow day at all. It was an ice day. Everything was covered in at least half an inch of solid ice. Things were... treacherous to say the least. But, man did everything look awesome!!! Check out the pics!!!
someone made a reindeer out of snow!
someone made a reindeer out of snow!
Intensive Quiet Hours and Hall Closing Policy
Intensive Quiet Hours are in effect right at this moment. (So excuse me if I type the rest of my blog in parenthases so nobody can hear me.)
(Basically, Intensive Quiet Hours, or IQH as a friend of mine calls it (making it it sound much trendier than it is) means that everybody needs to have their doors closed and their music turned down. There is not lingering in the hallways, and certainly no knocking on doors while laughing hysterically.)
(It's a little creepy at first since the lights are dimmed in the hallways just like it's quiet hours during the regular week, but you get used to it. And once you do, it's nothing short of delightful. Seriously. Nobody running down the halls yelling or freaking out or thowing things... it's nice. Especially when you're trying to study which, obviously is the point of IQH).
(There are release hours during which the residents can open their door and make a some noise. I think there is a total of 5 release hours during the day. I think it's good so residents don't feel cooped up and it kind of provides a study break for them."
(Don't get me wrong, residents are still allowed to leave the building during IQH. They can do whatever they want, just while they're in the hall they need to be almost silent.)
Oh, look. It's actually release hours now! No more parenthases!! Score!
So, another thing I have to worry about as an RA is closing the hall down. To be honest, it doesn't involve all that much. Basically after my girls leave for the semester I have to go check their rooms to make sure everything is unplugged and their windows are locked and all of that good stuff.
One of the things I've been getting complaints about is the fact that they have to unplug their refridgerators which means they have to get rid of the food that's in there. I can see how that might be inconvenient, but I'm not too upset over it. Want to know what's in my fridge right now? A jar of jam and some salsa, which are almost gone and nasty, respectively. Needless to say I'm not that broken up about losing them. Plus, it will give me a chance to defrost my freezer which isn't as much a freezer as it is a solid block of ice the size of a VCR.
We also have to take down all of our holiday decorations which I think is a little crazy. It's my room. I'll take down my decorations when I'm good and ready. Maybe take them off your door since that's in a public space and people might take offence to out of season Chrismtas decorations, but if you want to hang a stocking year-round in your room, you should be able to.
(Basically, Intensive Quiet Hours, or IQH as a friend of mine calls it (making it it sound much trendier than it is) means that everybody needs to have their doors closed and their music turned down. There is not lingering in the hallways, and certainly no knocking on doors while laughing hysterically.)
(It's a little creepy at first since the lights are dimmed in the hallways just like it's quiet hours during the regular week, but you get used to it. And once you do, it's nothing short of delightful. Seriously. Nobody running down the halls yelling or freaking out or thowing things... it's nice. Especially when you're trying to study which, obviously is the point of IQH).
(There are release hours during which the residents can open their door and make a some noise. I think there is a total of 5 release hours during the day. I think it's good so residents don't feel cooped up and it kind of provides a study break for them."
(Don't get me wrong, residents are still allowed to leave the building during IQH. They can do whatever they want, just while they're in the hall they need to be almost silent.)
Oh, look. It's actually release hours now! No more parenthases!! Score!
So, another thing I have to worry about as an RA is closing the hall down. To be honest, it doesn't involve all that much. Basically after my girls leave for the semester I have to go check their rooms to make sure everything is unplugged and their windows are locked and all of that good stuff.
One of the things I've been getting complaints about is the fact that they have to unplug their refridgerators which means they have to get rid of the food that's in there. I can see how that might be inconvenient, but I'm not too upset over it. Want to know what's in my fridge right now? A jar of jam and some salsa, which are almost gone and nasty, respectively. Needless to say I'm not that broken up about losing them. Plus, it will give me a chance to defrost my freezer which isn't as much a freezer as it is a solid block of ice the size of a VCR.
We also have to take down all of our holiday decorations which I think is a little crazy. It's my room. I'll take down my decorations when I'm good and ready. Maybe take them off your door since that's in a public space and people might take offence to out of season Chrismtas decorations, but if you want to hang a stocking year-round in your room, you should be able to.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Ya-who?
There's a girl in one of my classes who conveniently comes up with all the answers to all the questions the professor asks all the time. It's not just a result of really scrupulous reading, either. She'll know the outcomes of obscure court cases from the 40s and nobody quite knows how she knows these things. I happened to notice that she's the only one in the class who brings a laptop, which leads me to believe that she's Googling everything. There's no other way. She could just be brilliant, but I like to hold on to my Google theory. I told my fried that I think she's Googling things in class (which is nothing short of brilliant when you think about it!)... here's how it went.
"She's probably sitting there googling everything..." I said
"Don't be ridiculous," said my friend "She's could be Yahoo-ing them..." she said.
I don't know why, but at that moment I just stopped suddenly and tried as hard as I could to take in what she just said.
Yahoo?
Yahoo?
I don't remember the last time somebody brought up Yahoo. I had a Yahoo account at one point, but that was just so I could use Yahoo IM (AIM was passe). But since then (and I think that was my sophomore year in high school), I haven't heard much about Yahoo, and I sure as heck haven't used it.
But who does, really? You can't be like "Hey, what day is Easter on this year?... I should Yahoo that." Nobody. Yahoo hasn't been accepted as a verb in today's techo-crazy world. Google is a verb. You can Google something. Heck you can Google people. You can even Google yourself. But Yahoo yourself? I don't think so.
I feel bad for Yahoo. It's not even an inferior search engine, it's just not nearly as cool. Plus, Google's easy to remember. Yahoo gets confused with YooHoo all to often. What's YooHoo you ask?
Google it.
"She's probably sitting there googling everything..." I said
"Don't be ridiculous," said my friend "She's could be Yahoo-ing them..." she said.
I don't know why, but at that moment I just stopped suddenly and tried as hard as I could to take in what she just said.
Yahoo?
Yahoo?
I don't remember the last time somebody brought up Yahoo. I had a Yahoo account at one point, but that was just so I could use Yahoo IM (AIM was passe). But since then (and I think that was my sophomore year in high school), I haven't heard much about Yahoo, and I sure as heck haven't used it.
But who does, really? You can't be like "Hey, what day is Easter on this year?... I should Yahoo that." Nobody. Yahoo hasn't been accepted as a verb in today's techo-crazy world. Google is a verb. You can Google something. Heck you can Google people. You can even Google yourself. But Yahoo yourself? I don't think so.
I feel bad for Yahoo. It's not even an inferior search engine, it's just not nearly as cool. Plus, Google's easy to remember. Yahoo gets confused with YooHoo all to often. What's YooHoo you ask?
Google it.
Monday, December 3, 2007
WooMe.com
I'm thinking about downloading firefox and using that as my internet browser so I don't get these annoying little ads all over my internet windows.
Here's an interesting one I found while wasting time on Facebook:
"Lonely? You don't have to be. Meet five guys in five minutes. WooMe.com. It's fun and free to play."
*eye roll*
I'm going to skip over the most obvious point here which is that it's absolutely pathetic that people are actually coming up with these kinds of sites for teenagers. Hello, we're not old, miserable and lonely yet. We're perfectly of going out and meeting people which, I'm told, is how it's done traditionally. Our generation does seem pretty desperate though, and I guess these people are just filling a need... still... it's sick and i'm totally opposed to it.
Also...
I'm WAY insulted that they think I can be "wooed" in ONE MINUTE. My goodness... give me SOME credit. It takes at least five minutes to woo me. I'm not THAT easy. And why the term "woo"? It seems so obsolete for some reason. "Maidens" are "wooed." I'm not a maiden.
And maybe it's just me, but "playing" with these five guys seems a little... dangerous? Hello, I saw You've Got Mail and as much as I loved that movie, I'm convinced that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are not sending the best message. They "played" online and met and it HAPPENED to work out well for them. Just keep this in mind.. play all you want, but the guy on the other end is probably not going to be as attractive, charming, or normal as Tom Hanks so I would advise against running off with him -- even if he has wooed you.
Here's an interesting one I found while wasting time on Facebook:
"Lonely? You don't have to be. Meet five guys in five minutes. WooMe.com. It's fun and free to play."
*eye roll*
I'm going to skip over the most obvious point here which is that it's absolutely pathetic that people are actually coming up with these kinds of sites for teenagers. Hello, we're not old, miserable and lonely yet. We're perfectly of going out and meeting people which, I'm told, is how it's done traditionally. Our generation does seem pretty desperate though, and I guess these people are just filling a need... still... it's sick and i'm totally opposed to it.
Also...
I'm WAY insulted that they think I can be "wooed" in ONE MINUTE. My goodness... give me SOME credit. It takes at least five minutes to woo me. I'm not THAT easy. And why the term "woo"? It seems so obsolete for some reason. "Maidens" are "wooed." I'm not a maiden.
And maybe it's just me, but "playing" with these five guys seems a little... dangerous? Hello, I saw You've Got Mail and as much as I loved that movie, I'm convinced that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are not sending the best message. They "played" online and met and it HAPPENED to work out well for them. Just keep this in mind.. play all you want, but the guy on the other end is probably not going to be as attractive, charming, or normal as Tom Hanks so I would advise against running off with him -- even if he has wooed you.
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