10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or more...

-27-

2005-11-28T12:47:00.000-05:00

Hrm. I love that man.

He moved the due dates of paper 6 back, again, and it makes my life. I have so much other work to do right now, and I was so stressed, trying to figure out when I could work in time to do everything. And now, I have a few more days, and it's after all my other stuff is due, so thank the heavens for that.

However, he mentioned us having to come to the final exam time period on Monday the 19th, which is not going to work for me. I've already arranged to go home on the 17th, so I'm not going to be able to go. I'll have to talk with him, figure out another time for me to do the assessment.

[Edit 12/7: So, I had a chat with him, and told him I couldn't go. He's perfectly fine with it, and is currently in conversation with the library about whether people can do the assessment at another time. And in fact, he's delighted that I want to make it up. Hurrah!

We keep doing things with sentence structure, and paragraphs, and whatnot. I mean, it's nice and all, but I get really bored with it after a while. Grammar is by far my favorite part of the English language, but to do it for two weeks straight, just dissecting people's sentences, I can't handle it.

And it turns out, our Christmas party has been postponed to Monday the 12th. That'll be nice, but I was really looking forward to having it Friday. This week has been crazy, with work that's due and things of that sort, and party was going to be a nice break. Ah, well. Monday will still be lovely.]

-26-

2005-11-27T20:25:00.000-05:00

So, Thanksgiving vacation was lovely. And with Thanksgiving vacation comes Black Friday shopping. Everyone waking up at 4 AM, rushing out to the first store on their list, hoping to get the best deals on Christmas gifts. I can understand doing that with toys and such, because those go really, really quickly. But why would you rush out to a clothing store? The clothes aren't going anywhere. Take your time and get up later, you'll feel better.

I remember a couple years ago, we went shopping on Black Friday to a toy store. It was CRAZY. Seriously, people were attacking each other to get some Elmo toy, if I remember correctly. The thing with kids is, they don't care what they get for presents. They, for the most part, are happier with the box it comes in than the actual toy! And yet parents are still going crazy trying to get the latest toy for their kid. I just really don't see the point.

Oh, and the snow was so lovely. It really made the holiday. And all the radio stations were playing Christmas music, all the classics, and some of the bad new versions. Oh, bad music, how I unlove thee.

So I went out on Black Friday, bought myself some lovely new sweaters for basically half price. Saved a disturbing amount of money on the jeans I'm wearing. Hurrah for cheap things!

-25-

2005-11-19T23:35:00.000-05:00

I just want to say two things. I kept seeing things that reminded me of class today.

First off, I saw a bellringer outside the mall, and Seth commented how that tied in with Nissenbaum. And then I said, "Seth, it's Saturday, I'm not thinking about school!"

And then, we were in a gift shop, and they had all these cheesy Christmas trinkets and whatnot, and my first thought was, "Hm, I should buy my Secret Santa gift here!" My next thought, "I should get something for Schacht! He would totally appreciate." And then I was distracted by the pop-up cards. Oh, they were so cool! One of them opened up to a fireplace, and the flames rotated. Then another was this elaborate gingerbread house. Amazing. They were also incredibly expensive.

That's all, though. That, and the city of Rochester already has its Christmas tree up in downtown, those losers. At least wait until after Thanksgiving, please.

-24-

2005-11-18T21:20:00.000-05:00

We got our first snow yesterday! Oh, it was so exciting. I was going to take some pictures of it, but there really wasn't enough that stuck to the ground to make it worthwhile. And I was talking with my dad, and apparently, it's supposed to snow like crazy over Thanksgiving break. Mmm.

And so, we were discussing ... the paper. Yes, the paper. We had a lovely sample from last year's class, on how to do it, ideas, and the like. Make sure to make other corrections, don't just use what the teacher gives you. Be agressive in your correcting! It's not so much how well you corrected the paper, but how well you *tried*. Big difference between the two. Like Schacht said, it's not whether you bring the paper up to an A, it's how much work you put in.

... That's all I've got.

-23-

2005-11-16T13:06:00.000-05:00

A closed laptop policy has been installed. I feel cut off from the world.

We were discussing the sixth paper, which made me happy. I was really confused as to how we were going to hand in a draft of an editing. It didn't really make sense to me.

So now the paper is due the ~~Friday~~ Monday the fifth, with a start on it due the Wednesday beforehand. Not too bad.

You know what bothers me a bit? It's nearly Dcember, and we have no snow. I feel as though that's a smidge unfair. I mean, come on. It reminds me of that Christmas a few years ago, when we had absolutely no snow. A green Christmas. That just doesn't mean Christmas to me. That's why I could never live in a warm climate, one without seasons. I want my cold winters and my hot summers. Christmas isn't Christmas unless you can look out the window when you wake up that morning and enjoy the powdered fresh snowfall.

And I have no idea when I'm going to get a chance to do my Christmas shopping. I usually spend a Saturday at the mall, searching for the perfect gifts for a few of my closest friends. And now I don't know when I'm going to get to do that, becuse I don't go home until, say, the 17th or so. And that's a bit late for shoppijng. So my friends might not be getting their perfect presents this year.

Although, my perfect Christmas present would be to see my best friend who's out in California right now. That would be ideal.

I think I'm going to bring a string of lights back to my dorm to decorate with over Thanksgiving vacation.

-22-

2005-11-14T00:02:00.000-05:00

Wow, my paper doesn't make sense. But I'm really tired, and too lazy to fix it. I'll be surprised if I do well, because I feel like it had way, way, too much plot, and not enough everything else. Oh well, I can use it for paper six, to fix it and stuff.

Not having class on Friday was wonderful. Not that I don't like class, because I do, but having a day off was just nice. That survey was fun, too. Not the kind of work I was expecting to have to do. I figured we'd have to read some article in the coffeehouse, comment on it, that sort of thing. So the survey was a nice change. I commented on my anti-love for blogging, because I really think there's only so much that you can write about a class.

And now, bedtime.

-21-

2005-11-07T13:02:00.000-05:00

A thesis. A sentence that will guide your entire paper. It allows a reader to know what you're talking about within the first paragraph of reading, and whether they will even want to consider continuing on.

In short, if your thesis sucks, your paper is probably not going to be very good.

So we'll spend today look at peoples' theses [thesises? What in the world is the plural of thesis? I have no idea, to tell the truth.], and fixing a few lucky peoples' opening paragraphs. Those lucky people will a) receive a class-fixed opener, and b) have to reformulate their entire paper based on these fixings. Aren't they lucky! Hah.

I wonder if these entries are long enough to be considered "long." I feel as though they aren't, but I also feel that updating three times a week is plenty, compared to, y'know, those people who have updated a whole four times the entire year.

And now, to pay attention a bit!

-20-

2005-11-04T13:26:00.000-05:00

First off, happy fourth. No one here will understand that, but anything that I write on the fourth of any month must include this fact.

And now, the real content.
Grammar.

In class today, we were discussing a certain paragraph on the board, and the topic of grammar came up. I became a bit violent over a certain misplaced comma, and was tempted to go on a rant about the education system's lack of grammatical teachings. Most people go through all of high school not doing a single ounce of grammar. And it makes me wonder how on Earth this can be possible.

I mean, I myself only know grammar for a few reasons. Reason one, my four years of Latin. You can't learn case endings, the dative case, and all the different types of verbs without comparing them to their English meanings. This fortunately allows for a great deal of grammar learning. Reason two, English 11. Our teacher, Mrs. Hartley, attempted to have a weekly grammar lesson. I would just get annoyed since I had already learned all these things, and those in our class who hadn't taken the Latin were all like, "asljk What's a comma?!one" That alone made me despise Friday English. The point is, though, that she still tried to teach us, even if we [for our own reasons] weren't willing to learn. So props to her for being one of the FEW English teachers still around who do such a thing. Reason three, I heart grammar. I always have. I love commas and word usage, and knowing what sort of verb fits where. Gives me a little bonus, I guess.

So everyone here doesn't know how to write a proper sentence, and it's still a bit upsetting. I just wish that people didn't think that spoken English and written English were one and the same. They are two very, very different languages. Sure, they use the same words for the most part, but other than that, there isn't much that is the same. You don't pronounce punctuation when you speak, so for all intents and purposes, punctuation doesn't exist. But people think that the two can be interchanged, and that you can use spoken English as written English, and that your paper will turn out fine and dandy.

Well, guess what. It won't.
Learn some grammar.
It'll make your life a lot easier, people.

-19-

2005-11-02T19:52:00.000-05:00

A Christmas Carol -- a tale of Christmas that, while we're all raised knowing the story, none of us have ever read. It tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a grumpy old miser who despises Christmas. Thanks to the three ghosts, he is taught the error of his ways, and quickly changes himself into a cheerful, kind man.

I thought this was a relatively interesting read. Well, at least as you neared the end. Stave one nearly killed me, to be honest. The ghost of Jacob nearly made me fall asleep as I was reading it. Although, I was at work, and work *does* make me tired, so that may have been it. The staves got progressively more interesting, though, I feel.

And yet, even as I write this, I cannot help but think of the Disney version with Scrooge McDuck. Does that make me a bad person? And now I really want to watch that again. Perhaps I can rent it somewhere. Ooh, or Schacht should show it on one of the last days of class! That'd be spectacular. [Hint, hint.]

-18-

2005-10-23T20:12:00.000-04:00

I'm going to go on hiatus. Blogger keeps eating my entries, and I don't have the patience to continuously rewrite them and hope that they aren't eaten, so, y'know.

That's the plan.
Expect my return when I am not upset at the Google empire anymore.
That may take a while.

-17-

2005-10-21T15:57:00.000-04:00

Papers due today! Hurrah!

No, that enthusiasm was most certainly fake. But I finished around three pages, which I felt was pretty decent. We didn't really get a chance to go over them in class at all, so we'll have to do it for homework. That's okay. I can make time, je pense.

But. I had something to say, and now I don't recall.
What a shame.

Ooh! Note to self: remember to e-mail Professor Schacht with the link to Snoopy. Perhaps do some research or something. I'd like to bring in my CD from home when I go on Thanksgiving break, that would be lovely. Oh, how I heart Snoopy & His Friends. The CD is nothing compared to the old album, honestly. But I really don't think this high-tech school is going to have a record player lying about anywhere nearby.

That's a lie. It's right over there, on the other side of the library, actually. By the CDs. But I wouldn't want to bring Daddy's album in, I'd be afraid of hurting it, and then he wouldn't have it for Christmas, which would just be a sad thing.

/end speaking

-16-

2005-10-19T21:45:00.000-04:00

Oh, goodness.
I don't really have anything to write about this week.
I feel as though I never really do.
'Cause you know, blogging for a class is somewhat difficult. How much can you write about Christmas and Nissenbaum, honestly? I know that there are other things to write about, that still somewhat concern themselves with the class, but I have no idea what those things are.

If someone would care to inform me, that would be lovely.

So... fourth paper. This should prove interesting. I'm a bit nervous, it seems like it's going to be very hard. I mean, we have to search out this article, recall Nissenbaum, use quotes from both, cite them, and so on and so forth. A real paper, y'know?

Fortunately, we don't have to write the entire paper for Friday. Very handy. It's more, "get a start, see where you can go, get some comments, and finish it for next week." Which is wonderful, because it gives me a bit more time to do fun college things, like sleeping.

The annoying part, though? I do my best work the night before. I can't go a week before hand, write a paper, read it, fix it, and have some crazy revised version done for the final due date. Nope, twelve hours before the paper's due, that's when it gets started. Perhaps it's the pressure? I'm not quite sure. Sometimes I wish that I could be like my roommate, write my papers four days before they're due, so that they're out of the way.

Buuut yeah. So, tomorrow night, I'll start. Write a few pages, toss in some MLA, find an article on Harper's. Reread the Nissenbaum, make up a thesis, etc, etc. It'll be a good time. Hopefully, I'll be done by around ten. That would be ideal.

-15-

2005-10-17T12:39:00.000-04:00

So.
The wiki was due today.
I hope we get good grades on that.
I mean, I'm still not quite sure how exactly he's going to grade them, y'know? Do we get individual grades, based on how much exactly we contributed? Or is it more, "Everyone who worked on this gets an A-, because _____." I'd rather it was the latter, because while I myself didn't contribute that much material, I helped organize and fix mistakes to make the wiki as a whole better for a reader.

So, you know. That concerns me a bit.
But whatever. I'm sure that he'll be fair with everything that he does.

-14-

2005-10-11T17:46:00.000-04:00

I don't really have anything to write about this week.
I think I'm going to go on hiatus until next week, so that I can write about the next paper, and things of that sort.

So, until then.

-13-

2005-10-08T17:19:00.000-04:00

Will someone please tell me why the world is so cold?
And why my dorm room has no heat?
*looks sad*

We're barely into October, and I'm already sitting here with like, seven layers of clothing and blankets. A bit ridiculous, if you ask me. I'd be fine with it if there were just cause for the cold, like some f'ing SNOW, but no! It's just plain cold for the fun of it! I will get you, Mr. Winter.

Anyway, now that I'm done with my random rant o' the day.
The Wiki upsets me.
I feel that it is quite redundant.

And I made some changes to it, and then someone changed them back. And I'm like, "Excuse me? What is this crap?" I was fixing some spelling and grammar and such, after I'd updated with some content, and a while later, I looked back, and some of the things I'd fixed, were changed back. And it was things I knew were wrong. It's not like I didn't save it properly or anything, either.

That upset me a bit.

So yeah, this weekend I'm hopefully going to try to help out with that, make it less redundant some, maybe organize it a bit better. I need to add some more content, which is proving hard since most of it is already filled in, and the things that aren't, I don't know about. I just don't want to get a bad grade, y'know?

... My nose is cold.

-12-

2005-10-05T19:15:00.000-04:00

Meh. Alright, so, I've decided to do the Wiki. Yes, yes, I know. I feel like a sheep. But he keeps pressuring it in class, and I swear, that's the only reason that the other papers are so hard. He's purposely steering us towards the Wiki, methinks.

Like in class today. During our discussion, 90% of class was spent talking about how to make changes to the Wiki, how to put in links, how to do this and that and the other thing. Absolutely nothing about the other papers. It was, "Oh, does anyone have any questions about the other two topics? No? Okay, we'll talk about the Wiki some more then!"

But you know? That's alright. I understand it's something new that he as a teacher wants to try. And it was such a sneaky way of making us all work on it. He basically made us, without ever coming out and saying, "Alright guys, we're all going to make this Wiki, and yay for that!"

Very sneaky.

-11-

2005-10-04T17:11:00.000-04:00

So. The topics for the next essay are not so enjoyable.
It's either, "Write one of these two REALLY HARD papers, or write in my online wiki!"
I think Schacht's trying to tell us something... ^_^

I mean, I'd rather not do the wiki. I don't really understand how it's going to be graded, and I'm not the biggest fan of working with other people [unless I know how they work and it fits well with my style]. But the other papers are just so damn hard. And that would mean I'd have to go back and reread all the eRes stuff, and chapter 2 of Nissenbaum. And I'm not so sure I'm really up for all that work.

*shakes a fist*
You and your evil papers!
I shall smite them, with my fist o' doom.

-10-

2005-10-01T16:34:00.000-04:00

I do believe that Seth and I are taking a trip back to Dollar Tree this weekend, to take some pictures of all the Christmas items. I know how excited you all must be for that, so keep on the lookout. Yay for pictures. I need to get myself a digital camera so that I can take cool pictures once winter comes, I love snow pictures . I use them as my desktop pictures.

Except this cold weather is not a good time. See, the best time is when there's snow on the ground, but there's still sun shining. The light reflects off the glistening snow, making it look like there are diamonds sprinkled throughout the white powder. Just absolutely gorgeous. Days like that, you get up in the morning, look out the window, and it's breathtaking. The freshly fallen snow, completely untouched by footprints, wind, or anything else... and you can't help but stare.

Absolutely perfect.

-9-

2005-09-30T12:24:00.000-04:00

So, I got my paper back today...

I did way better than I thought I would! For as awful of a day as I'm having, that brightened my day a ton. An A- on my first college paper is quite acceptable, for my standards. And the fact that Professor Schacht actually knew the record I was talking about was all sorts of awesome. Hurrah for Snoopy vs. the Red Baron.

And the text message last night, about cancelled class? Absolutely amazing. I love cancelled classes. Now I have a reason to journal, so that I don't get a bad grade for that part of the class. I totally need to update more. [Note to self: I also need to stop complaining about my lack of updating. It's my own fault.]

-8-

2005-09-28T21:16:00.000-04:00

I need to post more often. This is making me annoyed.
It's because I really have nothing to write about.
Gah, suckage.

So Seth and I took a trip to Dollar Tree today. You would think by looking around the store that Christmas was a few weeks away. Figurines everywhere, Santa hats and tinsel proudly displayed on the walls, wrapping paper with bows resting in boxes, all waiting to be purchased. There were little ceramic cottages, covered in glittering snow, looking as though a small man would walk out to the mailbox at any moment.

And all of these things, sitting right next to the Halloween decorations. Masks, pumpkins, witches and black cats. Such a dark contrast compared to the bright beauty that is the Christmas season.

This is why Christmas is over-marketed. It's a good two months before December even starts, and all these things already on the shelves. It's a bit ridiculous, if you ask me.

-7-

2005-09-23T22:28:00.000-04:00

That paper was annoying to write. And I'm sure I didn't write it properly. I'll have to wait until we get them back to see what Seth's comments were.

His paper, on the other hand, I thought was excellent. Except for a couple things, I thought he showed the other side of his beliefs very, very well. It made me upset to read, because like him, I'm anti-affirmative action, so hearing his other character argue how 'it's only fair to the minorities' made me want to injure a small animal.

Well, maybe not. But it didn't make me happy.

So, yeah. At least that's out of the way for a week.

-6-

2005-09-21T18:31:00.000-04:00

Nissenbaum bothers me. I don't quite enjoy the style of writing that he uses. Like, it doesn't interest me at all, so I have to reread a page a couple times before I even begin to comprehend what he's talking about. And that does make things difficult when I have other work to do as well.

Kind of interesting, though, is the controversy over who wrote 'A Visit from St. Nicholas.' Somewhat like the controversy over whether or not Shakespeare actually wrote all of his works. It makes you wonder how many other writers and artists aren't getting credit for things they've done, and how many people we've deemed as 'greats' who haven't done anything at all.

-5-

2005-09-20T16:36:00.000-04:00

I was talking with my friend Aimee from home a few hours ago. And we were talking about how we were probably going to do our observations for SOE on Christmas break.

And then I thought about snow, and the coldness, and how much I love the winter season. And it brightened my day a bit.

I just thought I'd post that. It doesn't seem very pertinent, but I enjoy.

-4-

2005-09-19T20:32:00.000-04:00

I have two things to say:

1. I need to update more. Very much more.
For if I don't, I will fail.
And I would not like that!
Three times a week, I must do.

2. I have no idea what I'm writing my paper on.
Fortunately, it is only Monday. And it is not due until Friday.
If you have any ideas, share them with me.
Although, I certainly enjoyed Seth's idea of 'arguing organic foods.'
Probably still doing gay rights. But that would entail work.

We'll see how I feel Thursday evening. I can tell you it won't be well. This week, not so good, with all the work, and Matt leaving for California. So writing an argumentative paper for English is not exactly my idea of fun. And opposite any of my beliefs, nonetheless.

This shall prove difficult.

-3-

2005-09-15T18:41:00.000-04:00

Why isn't it snowing yet?
I would like the Christmas season immediately.
I'm sick of hot weather.
The snow is so beautiful... I could write for days about snow.
But I'm not so sure that it would be on topic, so I think I will refrain.

Finished my paper today, submitted that. I was down in the Union after work, and discovered a little computer lab, so I did it there. And I was looking at the corrections that my partner gave me, and I was a bit annoyed, because everything that was corrected was perfectly proper English. For example, I had a sentence that said "We've always had..." and she changed it to "We've always have..." It made my brain hurt a bit. So for the most part, I ignored the corrections, which is a shame, because I was really looking forward to having some input on the thing.

But honestly, with the snow.
Let's get on that, folks.
Maybe tomorrow.

-2-

2005-09-12T13:07:00.000-04:00

Meh. Something to write about...

Well, we finished our corrections today. Hopefully my paper wasn't too terrible. I'll try to add to it, if I can think of anything else. I won't be able to, but that's alright.

Then I read the two links in the coffeehouse. The article about workplace blogging was interesting. I'd already heard about things like that before, so it wasn't really new reading. But still, stories like that are interesting. Personally, I think you should know better than to write about that sort of thing. General work stories are alright, but if you get into so much that anyone who knows you can figure out who you're talking about, it probably isn't the best idea.

Like, I've heard stories about McDonalds workers writing about the terrible things that happen behind the counter, and they've gotten fired/sued for what they've written. Slightly unfair on the part of a multi-million dollar company, if you ask me. But you still shouldn't be telling workplace secrets to anyone who finds your journal.

I think it's slightly unfair for companies to punish workers for their journals. To me, it's on the same level as companies firing workers for smoking in their own home. It's an invasion of privacy. These people are not at work, they are not doing anything that affects work [unless they are telling crazy secrets about the job, which is another story] so why should they get in trouble? People need to vent every once in a while. Slightly ridiculous, I think.

As a sidenote, I'm amused that Satire 2.7 is in Latin. If I remembered anything from high school, I'd probably read it in the latin and not the translation. Alas, I can't even remember what books we read in AP English last year. Oh, woe is me.

-1-

2005-09-09T15:46:00.000-04:00

Mkay, so now that I finally have my journal back... My old one was deleted, which annoyed me very muchly. And Blogger never got back to me about what happened to it, so I'm like, meh.

I finished my paper last night. Unfortunately, it was a bit shorter than it should have been. I don't know, it seemed hard to write three whole pages about one single tradition. Mine was about this [Christmas] album that we always listen to as we decorate the tree.

Actually, I was really excited, because as I was writing my paper, I did a bit of research and such, and I found a link that played part of the LP! It only played the first two songs, so you never really get to the denoument, but still... it sounded exactly like the album. Made me tres contente.

So once I get home, now that I have a new journal set up, I'm going to customize. Oh, how I love html. I found some really cool templates, some Christmas ones. I need to finish sorting through them all, but I've got at least three that I really like so far. One's just an ornament, one is a really cute but slightly scary snowman, and I don't remember the third. Maybe it was white ornaments and stars or something. Still, classic, and very pretty.

Anyway, I guess that's it, because I want to do some set-up with this. Love!

[Edit: Blogger html kicks my ass. It's really weird. Yet another reason for me to hate Google. Hurrah!]

2005-09-09T12:43:00.000-04:00

Test post. Word.