NaBloPoMo: October 2010, Day 13

I have some BIG NEWS. I have decided what I want to be when I grow up. Not only that, but I am taking steps to make it happen.

I have been accepted to uni! I will be studying a Master of Library and Information Services.

AND

I got a job! A casual job at a library, which will give me some library work experience to go with my new studies.

And you know what that means? (The second part of that, at least.) Battlestar Galactica Season Four! Oh yeah.*

*I told myself I couldn't get the fourth season til I got a "real job." This is not quite that, but since I have decided to study, a real/full-time job wasn't really a viable option anymore. That and I certainly wasn't waiting eighteen more months to watch it. STARBUCK!

Aaand ... Stop The Clock

It only took thatlong for the US election to come up as a topic in a class which has nothing whatsoever to do with it.

The class's opinion seemed to be different to my understanding of the situation, but I couldn't really say anything, because "I read it on a blog the other day" doesn't count as an adequate argument. Plus, I'd already used "On Blue Heelers last night" and "On Grey's Anatomy that one time" and thought that was quite enough off-topic pop culture referencing for one day.

Add to that the fact that the lecturer managed to insult blogs, bloggers, and dismiss my argument regarding "fuck's safe" versus "Christ's sake" all in the space of five minutes and I think it's clear I should just keep my mouth shut.

My Uni Is Haunted

Last week, we had the great Contrary Scooter Incident of 2008. At uni.

Today, the lecturer was going around the room writing everyone's names down because he still can't remember everyone's names even though there's only eight of us in the class and if he hasn't by now maybe it's not worth the effort.

When he finished, he realised that everyone was sitting in alphabetical order.

AND THEN, there was a spare seat because one girl was late. And it was in the right spot in the alphabet.

Fricking spooky, dude.

Uni Quandry

The assessment for my Post-War American Literature is pretty basic: a 1000 word tut paper, and a 2000 word "major" essay. Easy.

Except that we also have to present to the class on one of the books.

Given that
(a) class goes for two hours,
(b) the presentation is not graded, so essentially I'll be planning a two-hour presentation for no marks,
(c) there are only five people in the class, so it'll pretty obvious if I just happen to not show up the week it's my turn to present,
(d) the lecturer already thinks I'm an idiot, and I wouldn't put it past her to let this affect my essay grades
I should just suck it up and do the presentation, right? Or not?

Incidentally, if anyone has a two-hour prepared speech on On The Road and would like to email it to me, that would be awesome.

You will need the things you learn in pre-school

Guess what we did at uni today (in Honours no less)? We cut out pieces of paper and stuck them on other pieces of paper. It's taken about twenty years, but those mad craft skillz from pre-school are finally proving their worth.

Oh, and then I assigned myself some 'homework' just so I wouldn't lose all that whole cutting and pasting technique we'd been practicing. My wall is no longer bare.

So, How's Uni?

So, I'm back at uni.

My study habits have gone from 'tends to leave things to the last minute' to 'completely non-existent.'

That's not actually true; I totally read the book for last week's class. And I read it before class and everything. But I could not tell you a single thing about it. No themes, symbolism, character motivations. I just didn't get the point of anyone writing it down at all. Like The Great Gatsby. Sorry, everyone who loves it. I didn't get it in Year 12, and I don't think I'd get it now.

And when your class of five is held in the lecturer's office, it's kind of noticeable when you have nothing to say. But I was LISTENING. And THINKING (about, like, what would I Twitter right now if I had Twitter?). But listening and thinking don't count towards a participation grade.

You know what else doesn't count? A thesis which sounded so cool back in March or April when October seemed sooooo far away it was practically in next year. I might want to make a start on those 10000 words that (apparently, and not for lack of waiting for them) aren't going to write themselves.

And also, GENIUS, you don't get marks for learning how to MAKE A CURVE IN PHOTOSHOP.

Welcome Home

After flying for 9,908,547,592,380,390,853,290 hours, I finally made it to Adelaide Airport. I went through duty free, where a bottle of alcohol cost me as much as it would have normally cost in the US.

I caught the slowest taxi EVER home (like, the reason you go Tapley's Hill instead of Marion Road is that it's 80 instead of 60 there. This is negated by the fact that you did 60 along there anyway) and worried that I wouldn't remember directions to my house. When I did get inside, my house had changed. Did they paint the walls? Was the hall always this wide? And oh my god, my walls are so bare.

After being in other people's gorgeous houses for three weeks, dude, my room is SO BORING. Maybe it was with this in mind that I stole four posters from the video shop when we went there last night, even though I haven't seen any of the movies featured. I don't think movie posters is the answer, but I am doing something with this wall:



Help me! Ideas!

Shelle and Jollan came over to help me celebrate. We made a birthday cake which, hmm, I would not eat the bottom of it if I were you - let's just say cranking up the heat to reduce cooking time might not be as effective as it sounds. But the rest of it was absolutely delicious and I love you guys for humouring my need for birthday cake.



Also, the chip packet told us to do this:



Today, I am trying to sort out categories in my Bloglines, which is essentially a pain in my arse, but when it is done the organisation-loving part of my heart will be so happy. I am uploading all my pics to Flickr, and tagging them all carefully is making up for all the current Bloglines chaos.

I am also making my way through this ...



... and I should have thought of a couple of things before I started. Namely:

1. There is never going to be enough room on the line for all those clothes.
1a. Also, what, is there a world peg shortage going on?
2. It is winter.
2a. Which means it is constantly raining and cold.
2b. Even though I don't care if my clothes get rained on, I still need to be able to hang them out so I can say I DID MY LAUNDRY.
Which all amounts to
3. How the hell do you think you are going to get all these clothes dry, ever?

I am also ignoring the fact that I am expected to be at uni tomorrow, ready to learn things, and the fact that I am, oh, a bajillion months behind on writing my thesis. "Work on it at BlogHer" my arse. But I still feel like it's my birthday - because I am insane like that, and because I had a bajillion Facebook messages to the tune of, "Facebook totally makes it easy for us to wish you Happy Birthday, even though we never would have remembered and don't know how old you are and really are not that concerned over any of this, but still, have a great day" - so I am happy.

And also because I got like the greatest birthday present ever this morning. (Equal greatest. I got this from Tiffany - like, the person, not the jewellry place - before I left. Pretty, right?) Here is Holly, in all her drivers licence glory that she denied the internet.



I love you guys!

Six Random Things: The Night Before

I was tagged by TLC over at Send Chocolate to tell you all Six Random Things. First, this may end up being more than six. I am very jittery, and may just keep typing all night. Second, I will do a What To Expect At BlogHer edition later in the week. And third, in case I don't mention it a bajillion times in the next six paragraphs, I leave for San Francisco in the morning.

1. The next time I post, I will be in San Francisco. In a different time zone, in a different country, in a different hemisphere.

2. This morning I had a little meltdown, refusing to start packing. Literally refusing to start. It was too big. Luckily Shelle talked me down off of that particular ledge, and I packed. I am packed. Lists were made and crossed off. I have nothing left to do but remember my toothbrush in the morning.

(TOMORROW morning. I am leaving tomorrow. For BlogHer. Which is in San Francisco.)

3. I think what really freaks me out is how normal this seems. Oh yes, I'll just toss some things into my bag so I can FLY HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD TO MEET MY IMAGINARY INTERNET FRIENDS.

4. I thought there was free alcohol on international flights, and SuperTiff backed me up on this. But then DanDan told me that was only in first class. Am I going to need to do some sneaking/flirting/stealing or are they going to just give me a damn drink already, I've been flying for fifty hours and I really need one, please pretty please.

5. Turns out my grades weren't being withheld because I still haven't read that one book. It's just an Honours thing, that they don't show your grades til the end of the year. So I have two grades back - both Distinctions. Honours is back on track.

6. I now have my e-ticket. Well, that's a fucking relief, don't you think?

That's six. I'm going to go and visit all your blogs one more time before I leave for San Francisco, and try to ignore the teeny tiny numbers on my countdown which are freaking me right the fuck out.

Something for you to think and comment about while I'm enjoying the hospitality of Air New Zealand: what should this trip be called? I need to make a label for it, so leave me your best catchy tags and I'll start posting updates on the [whatever you decide it's called] [trip/adventure/holiday/craziness/whatever] when I get to SAN FRANCISCO. TOMORROW.

In conclusion: YAY! WOW! FUCK! SQUEE! OMFG!

I don't want to deal with this right now

Is is possible that I failed to complete every single topic I took last semester? I know I slacked off a little, but COME ON.

And is this why the stupid uni computer system, which I thought I had all sussed out, refuses to let me enrol in topics for next semester?

Email the Honours co-ordinator, or ignore it til I get back from San Francisco?

Deadlines

(Ok, I'm going to mention BlogHer once, right now, and then we'll have a totally SF-free post. Deal? Deal.)

I think the reason I was a bit sooky at the end of last week was due to BlogHer. Specifically, all the time and effort I've laid out. And what do I have to show for it? Nothing. A bunch of confirmation emails. I'm just glad the exciting 'Yay BlogHer!' posts elsewhere have kept things more in perspective.

I have been keeping up with the cycling thing. My reward chart now looks like this



which means I'm halfway there. I've discovered that music is essential, that I need a countdown to focus on, and that I get way more excitement out of putting up a new sticker than I should.

I've started reading books again! I used to go through at least two books a week when I was at home, but since uni and tv in my room and cable and dvds on demand from Carla, I just haven't. Plus, my ginormous book collection is home, so don't judge what I'm reading. Down here, I basically have a collection of Books I've Read On The Plane To/From Home. Anyway, books I've read in the last week and a half:



Remember when I was so excited about last days? Well I actually had another one, two weeks ago almost. It wasn't very exciting, because I still had an essay to write, plus this stupid thesis that I'm fairly certain will never be written. (Not totally true.) But yay! I finished first semester of Honours!

I have one more essay to do. And I have procrastinated the hell out of it. Seriously. That pile of books up there? Essay procrastination. My clean bedroom? Essay procrastination. I read and highlighted the readings for Christ's sake. Major procrastination. But it's due Friday, so I'm thinking 1000 words today, tomorrow and Wednesday, and then it'll be done. (See what I mean about needing a number to focus on?)

Oh yeah. One more thing. The topic of the essay. Remember when I was all "Now I never have to hear the word 'postmodern' ever again"? Well. The subject of the essay? Postmodernism. The subject of the whole freaking topic? Postmodernism. The world is just mean sometimes.

So Not

Last year I did so well. I was focussed and motivated (mostly) and prepared.

Now? I've lost it. My study mojo has gone to shit.

After being pulled over by the cops last night for riding unregistered, I got a bus to uni this morning that got me there with about thirty seconds to spare.

First class, we were discussing a book. As everyone I was chatting to on msn last night knows, I was totally bragging about having read a book for uni. Um, genius? Wrong book.

Next class, bring two essays and look at a bunch of websites. After a mad dash to the computer room I had two (fairly irrelevent to the task) essays. "So guys, what did you get out of the websites?" Uh, me? Yeah not much, y'know?

Luckily the topic of conversation was essay writing and structure, which, as we know, I can fucking rock.

I made it work only fifteen minutes late (thanks, buses) and Friday afternoons at the centre are hell fun, as it turned out. I rock the petrol station shop person as well.

We do need to work on the study habit thing, however.

Last(?) First Day

BA Office (Wednesday): Sure, no worries. It should take about a day, and then you'll be able to enrol.
Me (Thursday): *Tries unsuccessfully to enrol*
Me (Friday): *Tries unsuccessfully to enrol*
Me (Friday): *Goes to class, not yet enrolled*

I'm not holding my breath, BA Office.

Maybe I just wasn't in a very receptive mood (after all, 9am Friday is not my best time) but I do not like the people in my classes.

They are all creative writing or drama people. Which means they think they are so creative and individual. They pride themselves being all left-wing and un-mainstream, but you know what guys? If you're ALL doing it, it stops being individual and becomes mainstream. They believe they're so free-thinking, yet all the while they are trying to impose their way as the only right way of thinking.

Plus, they're all old and/or fashion challenged. Seriously, how am I meant to work with these people?

GMA180

My last assignment for Writing and Designing for the Web was to create a website, on any topic, using a CSS template from somewhere. (Incidentally, what is it with these lecturers and their vague assignments?)

As my Gma is turning 80 in like a month, I thought she would make a nice topic for my site. After all, the last eighty years have been pretty interesting ones, right?*

Here's my header:



And a bit of the site:



If it actually goes live somewhere, I'll let you know the link. Possibly. I don't think Gma would be too happy about her pic all over the interwebs, but as she never uses the computer, maybe what she doesn't know won't hurt me.

*Also, I thought it would be easy. And it was, pretty much. I interviewed her last Thursday, started on the site on Monday afternoon, and it's done now, Thursday night - but actually Friday morning, especially for the purposes of NaBloPoMo.

This is a very serious occasion

I just had my last class ever.

It was full of somber and educational smart-making things. Namely ...



... we watched a movie.

And now that all my classes are over, I would just like to say that I never want to hear the word 'postmodern' ever again. It is highly overused in universities these days, and I recommend its immediate dismissal from everybody's vocabularies.

Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?

Daylight savings confuses the hell out of me.

That is all.

Oh and also, this is what I spent my whole lecture puzzling over:



Who is Harry? I'm assuming it was all left over from some English class, and that therefore they're characters in a book/play/movie/poem/text of some description. But which one? Who are these people?

Sick of my computer screen

That's right. I'm sorry it has come to this. But really, since I did basically nothing during the first one and three quarter weeks of the holidays, my last couple of days have consisted of the following routine:

- my alarm goes off.
- I hit snooze.
- my alarm goes off.
- I set it for anywhere between half an hour and an hour later.
- my alarm goes off.
- I turn it off.
- I lay in bed. I may or may not fall back to sleep but I sure as hell am not out of bed.
- I finally decide to get up.
- I turn on my computer and my Ikea lamp.
- I check my Bloglines and Television Without Pity and my email.
- I have a shower and get dressed.
- I re-check my Bloglines etc.
- I have a spoonful of Nutella.

THEN, and only then, can I start work on my essays. Which also takes place in front of my computer screen. My essay breaks? More Bloglines or TWOP or msn-ing people.

I AM OVER THIS SCREEN THING.

I would love to be at the beach, or at work back home, as long as I was outside, doing things. And also warm.

Saturday, Sunday, and today I did not go outside until the sun was down. Daylight? Never heard of it. (Well, certainly haven't seen it.) Luckily for me, classes start back up again tomorrow, something I can't quite get my head around. My head is going to have a hell of a shock when it has to go to FIVE CLASSES IN A ROW AND OH MY LORD SHE BETTER FINISH ON TIME THIS TERM SO HELP ME GOD.

I did finish an essay tonight. I wrote 84 words before I had to go to dinner, and when I came back I wrote the other 1916. I was finished by 11 o'clock. That's some mad typing skillz there. Unfortunately, the process I've gotten into requires way too much time organising beforehand. (It also requires me to actually do some work every now and then, but that neither here nor there for this discussion.) I really want to come up with a better system. I actually only have three more essays in which to perfect it though so I don't like my chances.

Next essay topic: blogging. No, for real.

Time Check Please Lecturers

Argh! These lecturers are driving me insane.

Classes (are to supposed to) start on the hour and finish at ten to. Is that so hard to grasp? (Hint: No it's fricking not.) Which is why comments like this annoy me so much:

Time: 1:52pm.
Lecturer: Well I see we're running out of time, so I'll just mention this [and blah blah blah].
Me [to myself]: The correct tense is ran. We've run out of time. Not running.

Time: 2:48pm.
Lecturer: Right, we're running short on time, but I'll just hand out this quiz...We'll be going over this in tutorials next week anyway...
Time: 2:50pm.
Everyone: [finishes the quiz]
Me: [packs away cos I have my fifth class in a row still to get to]
Lecturer: Right, let's go through some answers...

GRRRRR.

Hell Day

Things I have learned in my first two days at uni:

FROM ENGL2508: CRIME FICTION AND FILM: FROM POE TO THE POSTMODERN

Books are still being banned. Dymocks at Marion refuses to order The Killer Inside Me byJim Thompson. Dude, it's a set text. You will make a killing (hee!) off Flinders Uni if only kept a few copies behind the counter.

FROM ENGL2110: WRITING AND DESIGNING FOR THE WEB

We've already covered this but it seems we have to do it again. If you are a teacher of internetness-slash-computer programming or whatever, it doesn't inspire much faith if you can't press F5, or even go Slideshow - View Show, but instead click through the individual slides while they're still in the editing pane thingy.

FROM HIST2050: THEMES IN AUSTRALIAN SOCIAL HISTORY

1. Do not brag about your timetable. You will receive a letter from your letter stating that they've had a look at your timetable, noticed that you have eleven am Tuesday free, and that they've moved you into that tut time. They do not mention if they've noticed that you already have four classes in a row on that day, and that one makes five THANKS A FREAKING LOT.

2. Students in this class are expected to sixteen hours a week for this class.
2.1 Students overall are expected to do thirty hours a week per class.
2.2 Some basic maths.

24 hrs in the day x 7 days = 168 hrs in the week.
30 hrs per class x 4 classes = 120 hrs of work per week.
8 hrs of sleep x 7 nights = 56 hrs of sleep per week.
168 hrs in the week - 56 hrs of sleep per week = 112 hrs available.

Hours available in the week = 112 hours.
Hours of work "required" = 120 hours.

Hmmm. Yeah, ok.

3. Lecturers are stupid. This maybe doesn't mean you should have a go at them in the very first class. My bad.

FROM HIST2059: COLONIES, EMPIRE, AND REVOLUTION: BRITISH NORTH AMERICA 1500-1800

"Be cautious in use of the internet." No really! Look out! Something may fall on your head! Or a trapdoor may suddenly spring open! Or the booby-trap with the knives that fly at your head will be activated if you're not being cautious. Phew. Glad I've been warned.

FROM AWESOME LISA THE TUTOR

If you do good stuff throughout the semester, and impress on your tutor the necessity of you getting a Distinction in the topic, they will give you a good mark in your final essay, even if - and I quote - some of your statements are not as clear as they could be [and] the writing lacks some of your usual 'sparkle' (and has uncharacteristic typos!).

Other people think I'm smart

It seems that having people to distract you for the most of the lead-up to an essay's due date, forcing you to dismiss them so you can sit down in front of the computer and fill it up with words in six hours or less is actually conducive to writing an impressive essay.

Awesome Lisa: Missy, your essay was awesome. You did a great job.
Me: The huh? Oh, I mean, thanks!

***

I'm going to be writing the recap of the girls basketball games for the yearbook. A whole page? On three games? Good thing we already know I can be very long-winded when it comes to basketball escapades.*

It's just ... kinda odd. Sometimes I get all, these people don't like me, and I take that and run with it, and some of the time I am totally going to town with the imagining. I'm there right about now and I don't know if I am imagining it or if I'm being very perceptive. Either way, it's not really a good place to be coming from when I have to fill up a page with 'amusing anecdotes' and 'funny quotes' about those exact people.

Overthinking it? Yeah, probably.

***

Just realised I didn't say what I actually got. I mean, it would have been hilarious (but not) if Lisa was all, great job, and I was like, I know right?! and then my essay was all like, C dude, you got a C.

I got an 80. Or a Distinction. Which one sounds better?

*Ess-ca-pay. I wonder what that means? That's funny, it's spelt just like the word 'escape'!

English Class

Dear ENGL 2111 Students,
A word about the presence (or otherwise) of lecture notes on FLO: Lecture notes have been posted as a matter of course in recent years because the quality of the cassettes was so poor. In short, now that the digital downloads are available, it is expected that students will take their lecture notes from these alone. Listening to lectures (or better still, attending them), processing information and taking down notes, is deemed an essential learning skill in the tertiary learning environment. So, why am I having this rant? To stress that you are the first group of university students ever to go through with unlimited access to lecture content in this form, and to offer my view that access to lecture notes as well as digital recordings is tantamount to spoon-feeding. Why do we give lectures at all if students can download us and watch slides at the same time; This is how the topic would be offered if you were doing it externally, which you are not. No doubt this will annoy many, but so be it. And worry not: I will post lecture notes when I believe the content warrants it such as when there is a strong pictorial element.

This is an abbreviated form of the announcement posted for us by our lecturer. I do not attend the lectures for this class. I have a tut at the same time and as tut's require attendence and are not taped, I choose that over a lecture that I can access later.

I understand where she's coming from in that a lot of people don't go to lectures, and not because they have a clash, and that printing out powerpoints is easier than taking your own notes. However, if I attended a lecture, I would have the powerpoints to look at, as well as whatever random film they decide to show, while I listen to the lecturer and take notes. Obviously, they're going to put up every film clip or whatever that they show but I really wish they'd put the powerpoints back up so that when they say, "And you can see this image clearly demonstrates, well, you can see," I could actually see.

***

English Lecturer: [The filmmaker puts all this stuff in that we can now call a motif] which I would argue is totally premeditated.

It must be so nice for filmmakers that english lecturers come along and put all this meaning into their editors' choices when really it was just cos it was a pretty shot, or they were running out of time on location, or they needed to fill in space between this scene and the next.