So of our six group members only two of us showed up yesterday to work on our paper for COMM. I was one, of course. So when it came for group member evaluations, everyone but myself and Daniela got pretty low grades for the paper, at least from Daniela and me.

I added some Hooters pictures to my scrapbook. I'll add other pictures sometime this week hopefully; I have to connect my camera to my computer, but the cable's at home.

I also figured out how to sort the albums by most recently updated! Yay! So to go to the normal scrapbook there's the link on the side, but to see most recently updated click on the pics below.

( So today is really very mixed good and bad. )

Also, Hogsmeade's running at hogwarts_elite now. I even made time to enter a couple of the contests already. There's no way I'll be able to do any of the more time-consuming ones, but I might get to a couple shorter ones tomorrow too.

And starting next Monday my work availability will be any time but Wednesdays, Sundays, and after 4pm on Saturdays. I made sure George had seen it, and he said yes and he'll be making the schedule for that week on Monday. Technically I have about the same number or more available hours as before, but it's awesome for me since it means I won't work Danny's days off or close Saturdays, and it'll just be work, no school. For the summer, at least...

And I really have to work on transferring to College Park. I guess it's not so pressing for this summer, but during next semester it'll be much more convenient working at the College Park Starbucks.

I got my paper back in my evening honors seminar! I got an A+! He only marked on the paper itself once, and at the end with my A+ he wrote "Outstanding!" I'm very pleased. It's 30% of my grade, and it's the first A I've gotten on a paper this major... in college, that is.

The final's looking kind of daunting, though. He put 60 names of people on the board who we need to know for the final. And at least ten of them are "Ibn" somebody-or-other, or "Al-" somebody-or-other. I'm sure it won't be that bad. I was the one who asked him to name people we might need to know from the course because on the midterm the one question I totally blanked on was identification of Ibn Hayyam or something like that, who ended up being an Arabic/Muslim scientist whose method of study in optics revolutionized science. But I'm sure most of the test won't require remembering specific names, or at least not the weird ones. People like Einstein, John Locke, Newton, Aristotle, and Plato won't be difficult to recall. It's the Ibns and random little dudes I'm worried about.

Oh, and Bear ate the temporary license plates off of Danny's new car =D

( Freewriting for class... )

I liked this unit of my HONR267 class. It was dance, so it was very artistic and not as rigidly or traditionally structured as the others. For the paper, we could perform in class and then write a reflection on it instead of the 4-6 page formal paper required in other units. Since we only have to write papers on two units, the first and one of our choice, I chose this unit. Writing isn't exactly a performance art, though, so I hope what I'm turning in is satisfactory. I also hope it isn't late; I heard her in class saying that we could turn it in by Monday since she wouldn't be checking her email this weekend anyway, but the syllabus says it was due Friday at 5pm.

Whatever, I'm done now. I hope I get an A. I got a B on the last one. I tried to incorporate all aspects of the question/prompt on the dance page, so hopefully it'll be good.

So I'm waiting for Danny to get home. He had to work today; usually he's off on Sundays, but today was the release of Mario Kart. Speaking of which, I should play that until he gets home. And I need to remember to print out my lab for tomorrow morning. At least Thursday I get to pick out my schedule for next semester. That'll be a relief to have set out.

Work today pretty much sucked. Lydia elected not to show up -- again, apparently. Yesterday she called ten minutes before she was supposed to come in (Bre reported to me, since I wasn't there) to ask when she was supposed to work, and when Bre told her, she huffed and hung up... and never showed up, never called back, nothing. Today she didn't call at all. She's so fired. Anyway, somebody from Langley Park came to cover her shift, but she didn't get there for almost three hours after Lydia was due to start... and then I was supposed to skip my lunch and leave a half hour early, but I ended up skipping my lunch and staying fifteen minutes late. I guess it's okay. It's more hours.

So I'll go. I need to brush my teeth.

So I finished my research paper for HONR219V (which I am currently half-listening to) in record time compared to what I was expecting. I finished in my second class this morning because the lecture was next to pointless. I missed both lectures last week but he's STILL on plate tectonics and volcanoes etc. even though that was what he left off on the Thursday before last. So yeah. I skipped Psych to attempt to do the smaller assignment for HONR219V (it was checked out at the library, but I got to it later) because I find that I can actually study the Psych book reliably and even learn better than just attending lecture. Plus he's been getting really good lately about posting his lectures online, and his notes are even better than the ones I take in class.

Now I just really hope I get an A on the paper. I have no way of telling... I feel like I did pretty well, but I do have about equal tendency of writing the exact topic my teachers wanted or straying just enough to lose a letter grade or two. I'm pretty hopeful since the topic was broad: Contraception as concerns science, religion, and freedom. No specific question to answer, which is my main weakness, it seems.

( Cont'd... )

My god. So I stayed up until 3 last night to finish the comm speech and 8-10 page gov paper due today. The gov paper? Yeah, I started it yesterday. I had my research sources, just hadn't actually started or pulled quotes from the sources yet or anything. But I finished both. I did mostly well on the speech, I think, though there was one point when I was really shaky and tripping over my tongue. I recovered well at the end, so hopefully that'll make up for it. The paper... is 8 pages, if you're lenient, which my gov TA generally is. It's about 7 and 4/5ths pages, with 1.15" margins on the left and right, and the MLA style header of double spaced name, teacher, class, date, four lines to the title, four lines to the beginning of the paper. So basically formatted with a title page and 1" margins it'd probably be 7 pages, maybe a little on the 8th page, but... I can pray. Like I said, the TA's pretty lenient.

So I'm typing this on my pretty new Mac, which I got on Friday and is a large part of the reason I procrastinated so badly on the paper and speech. That and going to the Redskins game on Sunday, which was a total bummer. The game after Sean Taylor's death? C'mon guys, you should've won. It was just the Bills!

The j on this keyboard isn't as sensitive as the other keys. I have to consciously press it. Meh.

Anyway, I really like my new macbook. It's so light and fast, and iTunes finally works again, and man can it play movies. Streaming TV shows online is no problem. There are some drawbacks. Like Ruckus, the free online music downloading website affiliated with Maryland, only works with Windows Media Player. The Windows version. There's a Mac version apparently, but it doesn't work on that. So no legally free downloads of music. Meh. And I got Office for Mac, but when I put my powerpoint for my comm speech onto the class computer (Windows), it had a couple problems. The pictures didn't show up, and the font was enlarged. Still, it's a really good system, quick, and I have a feeling once I learn how to work everything properly I'll love it so much better than Windows.

So the end of the semester is fast approaching. I have a final next Thursday, and then three finals on Monday and Tuesday the week after that. Two on Monday and one on Tuesday. The two on Monday are going to suck because one's 8 to 10 and the other's 10:30 to 12:30, but at least the second isn't a real final. It's my honors seminar (which I've grown to hate, ironically, since I thought it'd be my favorite class), and we're just going to read our manifestos or some shit.

Sooo. I need to get the printer drivers from Danny's house so I can make my printer work with this computer. I fucked it up because apparently you aren't supposed to download printer installation to Leopard becomes it comes with all these printer drivers already. I had to uninstall the one I downloaded and delete the Lexmark folder, and I'll have to pull it back off the OS cd when I get to Danny's tonight. We're also supposed to go get a christmas tree from his uncle. Good thing I don't have anything else due until after the weekend... Ha, and Danny's so jealous of my macbook. He's wanted one for ages but I get one because my laptop decided to give out.

Sooo. I just realized Tuesday that I have a ten to twelve page paper due next Tuesday. I have to write it this weekend. It's an actual research paper, requires 15 academic sources. I have to text Alicia and let her know I have to postpone hanging out... x_x; Anyway, I have a detailed outline and bibliography due for an 8 - 10 page paper due next Thursday. And a history paper due after Thanksgiving break, and a speech due after Thanksgiving break. Waaah.

I think my grades so far are three As (two one credits, one three credit) and three Bs (three credits). I have to maintain a 3.2 for my scholarship. If those are the grades I get, I'll be safe at about a 3.3. If one one credit turns out to be a B, it'll be a 3.28 or something. But I can't get a C in a three credit, I can't afford it, so these papers and things are really important. I may even be able to bring one of the Bs up to an A. Comm maybe; I have a mid to high B in that class, with a paper, a speech, and I think a final left. And of course participation for all of these, generally around ten percent, which could be an absolute life saver. So we'll see.

I bought Danny's anniversary present. I took a Halloween picture of us as Link and Zelda and ordered a photo mosaic. All the little pictures making up the big picture of us will be artwork from Zelda games. By tomorrow the mosaic should be compiled for me to look at and see if it's to my liking. If it is, I'll accept it and it'll be shipped.

Okay, so I better text Alicia.

Danny's back from Vegas, that's good news. He's been back since Thursday. I went to pick him up with his mom in my nice black dress, which he liked. He got me this awesome outfit from Vegas, a twirly skirt and a tight matching shirt; I love it to pieces, and so does he when I'm wearing it ;D

Anyway. I have a paper due next Tuesday, a speech that could be due as early as next Thursday (there are a few days of speeches, we're having a lottery to determine the order of presentation), and a paper due the following Monday. Luckily the papers aren't too bad; the speech, though, might be a little rough. 6 - 8 minutes, I have to find an article/speech/etc about my topic (the negative impact of organized religion on society), dissect it, and argue whether it's sound or stupid. Including doing research for or against. So I need to make a trip from the library, because that seems a safer bet for research than teh internets, especially with all the complaining my comm teacher does about wikipedia.

So yeah. I think I know how to go about my honors seminar paper. It only has to be four pages, and while it troubled me at first, I puzzled out a plan on the toilet (always a good thinking place), and I think I'll be okay. The speech, though, I need to get started on, and soon. And the history paper (5 - 10 pages), but I'll probably start worrying about that after section on Monday. That'll give me a week, which is okay considering it's not actually a research paper. I hate research papers.

Ah, and exercise. I've been keeping up. I exercise everyday except when I go out with Danny and we get too busy to really think about it. I'm getting better. I can maintain a higher speed on the elliptical trainer without my heart exploding; toward the end my heart rate was 180, but through most of it I was around 174. I did 100 sit ups, 10 leg lifts, and 10 push ups at the gym, not to mention my stretches, and then went up the rock wall (which killed my forearms). Later that night at my dorm, I did 50 more push ups (in increments of 10, with five to ten minute breaks between some of them). That was yesterday, by the way. It seems like a long time ago since I had a nap today.

Anyway, tonight I have martial arts. Two hours. Hopefully my endurance is better now and they can't dish out anything I haven't been doing myself already. The only real difference is that martial arts is all compacted into two hours, whereas I can workout throughout the day if I want. Not that I do. I guess I just workout a little harder in a shorter amount of time. But a little harder in a significantly shorter amount of time doesn't work out exactly right. Oh well. My endurance'll catch up.