It snowed yesterday. Kind of random considering it's not even Halloween. This is a little more north than I've been, but come on? Winter in October? You have got to be kidding me. I did not appreciate that little gift. I don't start to appreciate it until after Thanksgiving. But that's okay. It kept me inside so I could "do my homework."
That was a random look into my mind about how I feel about the temperature and early winter in Decorah, IA.
So I came back from fall break and had to work, which was... terribly painful for my psyche, but I got paid for it, so I wasn't going to complain. After that, I beached. I met up with the friends and didn't do anything. It was amazing, I'm not going to lie. Thursday was the same and I loved it. I just slept all day and then watched TV and got on the ever deadly facebook.
Then midnight rolled around and Friday slapped me in the face. Last time, I mentioned something about laziness and getting destroyed--it still applies during and after break. Had I done ANY of my homework prior to Thursday, I might not have gone to bed a three in the morning, still not done with it. It was a headache to deal with.
After that tragic Friday, I had a tragic Sunday [I clearly don't learn from my lessons] and then it was Monday. I managed to barely scrape by, but after a long talk with my god-mother, who works on campus, I decided that none of that was going to happen. So! With new found determination and responsibility I went to the Diversity Office and had a talk with one of the people that had asked me to come in on Friday [oops! (and it's okay to do that, as long as you COME IN)] and got my shots so that I could register for classes next semester and sat down to do my homework.
... sort of. There might have been a trip to the cemetary sometime during the 'doing homework'. Bu no worries. It's getting done as we speak. One page is this blog, another is the website I'm getting my information off of, and then there's aim. Hooray for multitasking! The iTunes is on too. Can't forget that.
Hey, everyone has their own study habits--mine might just be a little distracting. But at least I'm doing it.
In college, the professors may not collect the homework or the meetings may not be necessary or can be done later, but one day, that professor might suddenly ask for that assignment attached to your paideia paper [true story] and those meetings might be extra credit and later turns into late. So, just do the work and all of it is gonna come back A+ [or at least with credit].
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Out Tonight
It's fall break. I've probably been looking forward to this break since August [I moved to Iowa at the beginning of August] because I got to go home and see some of my friends and drive my car and feel one with the people when I go fifteen over the speed limit. It's definitely refreshing to be in a nice open space and room than in a cramped dorm room with one window and other people's stuff everywhere.
On Friday, my friend and I climbed into her car [two hours later than planned and with over five hundred pounds worth of dirty laundry/shoes we don't need/clothes we don't need/technology we "can't live without"/homework] and headed to her house in Cedar Rapids, where my mother would then pick me up. There was one problem with that: we had no idea how to get there. Conveniently, my mother and my godmother were unable to pick up any sort of phone. But, no worries, we did get directions and we set off towards Cedar Rapids.
Halfway there, we realized it might have been a good idea to get dinner from the caf because we were both starving. We had just gotten out of Independence, which, apparently, is the last place of civilization before 380 where there is no food. Once we figured that out, Chelsea and I reversed back to the Wal-mart we passed and decided to take our allotted ten-minute pit stop.
We were there for a half an hour [it's the Walmart pull, I swear]. We bought orange soda and these surprisingly good tasting sandwiches that came in plastic containers and a giant bag of chips. It was so unhealthy. It was so road trip food. But we were back on our way and we finally got on 380. We got to her house [which was pretty much awesome] and I switched over to my mother who was "in a hurry to go" but ended up talking to Chelsea's parents for about a half an hour. Fun times. After that, it was a four hour drive home.
I had planned on the bonding time between me and my mom to be during the drives to and from Elgin and then the ride to Cedar Rapids or whatever. Because I already had plans in Elgin that I wasn't too eagar to change.
There was never a prettier sight than when I reached Elgin. The familiar highways and signs and stores and the 24-hour Jewel. The orange skies because of the street lamps and Starbucks and all the construction that was still going on on McLean Blvd [though it was refreshing to see it on the other side of the street]. I stayed with my friends, since our house was being rented out and we spent a good part of the night talking and catching up... and risking our lives by walking to the 24-hour Jewel at two in the morning to get groceries. It was totally scary because we took the short, dark, unpopulated way to the store, instead of going around the school and taking the lit, heavily populated place.
I slept on a real bed, not that the dorms don't have real beds, but I don't have a mattress pad, and it's catching up with me. So I slept extremely well that night. I visited my bank and deposited my work-study money and then hung out with my two friends before they had to go to work. I had to wait for my mom to drop off the car and then I was on my way to check my email and spend some quality time in Panera, where I spent a lot of quality time over the summer.
That night, my super bestest friend ever was going to visit me. We had plans to go to the dance club, but... there were no funds for that. So we watched a movie, but then decided that it was too boring and too mundane for my only weekend in Elgin for a long time. So we made an impulse decision to go to Chicago... at midnight. Crazy? It was. That was why we changed our minds. Then we were back to the club idea, but my best friend knew how to get in for free. We stopped at her dorm and got ready to go. Then my other friend's [there were four of us] car died in the fifteen minute parking. It was probably around one in the morning.
No problems, her dad just had to wake up and travel a few minutes to jump start the car. Then we went back to Chris' house to switch cars, because Amelia had to take her car back home, since everyone was scared it wasn't going to start in the morning. By that time, it was around two, so there was no point in going to the club, since it closed at three.
So we went to Taco Bell and drove out to Genoa... to cornfields. We were totally going to be rebels and get lost in them, but when we were standing on the edge, me and Amelia heard something in the fields. I'm not even kidding. There was some sort of creature in the cornfield that was going to eat us--I saw the stalks move. So we ran back to the car dramatically, screaming and such. My friend climbed in and since her car wasn't an automatic unlocker, she had to manually open all four door from the inside. If there was an animal that was going to eat us, it definitely would have gotten us. Especially if it was the "Jeepers Creepers guy that was going to massacre us."
From there, there was another pit stop at Jewel, after a successful run of the Chinese Firedrill, and we went back to the house. By that time, it was four in the morning and we were done. There were problems with the sleeping arrangements, but I managed to get the bed. That was all I cared about.
Sunday, the day I was leaving, I, by chance, managed to see a friend that went to University of Illinois... about an hour after church ended [slept through it], so that was pretty nice. My mom and I went to the usual haunts we hadn't been to in so long and then headed west... back to Iowa. I got to stop by at my other friend's college, because she was on the way, and spent some time with her. Then we left.
Now I'm here, in Muscatine. I believe I'm going back to Cedar Rapids, to spend the night at Chelsea's house, tomorrow. Then on Wednesday, we're leaving to go back to school at noon. I have my work study at five-thirty and then it's back to the same old.
And that was my super Fall Break in a very, very long blog entry. ^^
On Friday, my friend and I climbed into her car [two hours later than planned and with over five hundred pounds worth of dirty laundry/shoes we don't need/clothes we don't need/technology we "can't live without"/homework] and headed to her house in Cedar Rapids, where my mother would then pick me up. There was one problem with that: we had no idea how to get there. Conveniently, my mother and my godmother were unable to pick up any sort of phone. But, no worries, we did get directions and we set off towards Cedar Rapids.
Halfway there, we realized it might have been a good idea to get dinner from the caf because we were both starving. We had just gotten out of Independence, which, apparently, is the last place of civilization before 380 where there is no food. Once we figured that out, Chelsea and I reversed back to the Wal-mart we passed and decided to take our allotted ten-minute pit stop.
We were there for a half an hour [it's the Walmart pull, I swear]. We bought orange soda and these surprisingly good tasting sandwiches that came in plastic containers and a giant bag of chips. It was so unhealthy. It was so road trip food. But we were back on our way and we finally got on 380. We got to her house [which was pretty much awesome] and I switched over to my mother who was "in a hurry to go" but ended up talking to Chelsea's parents for about a half an hour. Fun times. After that, it was a four hour drive home.
I had planned on the bonding time between me and my mom to be during the drives to and from Elgin and then the ride to Cedar Rapids or whatever. Because I already had plans in Elgin that I wasn't too eagar to change.
There was never a prettier sight than when I reached Elgin. The familiar highways and signs and stores and the 24-hour Jewel. The orange skies because of the street lamps and Starbucks and all the construction that was still going on on McLean Blvd [though it was refreshing to see it on the other side of the street]. I stayed with my friends, since our house was being rented out and we spent a good part of the night talking and catching up... and risking our lives by walking to the 24-hour Jewel at two in the morning to get groceries. It was totally scary because we took the short, dark, unpopulated way to the store, instead of going around the school and taking the lit, heavily populated place.
I slept on a real bed, not that the dorms don't have real beds, but I don't have a mattress pad, and it's catching up with me. So I slept extremely well that night. I visited my bank and deposited my work-study money and then hung out with my two friends before they had to go to work. I had to wait for my mom to drop off the car and then I was on my way to check my email and spend some quality time in Panera, where I spent a lot of quality time over the summer.
That night, my super bestest friend ever was going to visit me. We had plans to go to the dance club, but... there were no funds for that. So we watched a movie, but then decided that it was too boring and too mundane for my only weekend in Elgin for a long time. So we made an impulse decision to go to Chicago... at midnight. Crazy? It was. That was why we changed our minds. Then we were back to the club idea, but my best friend knew how to get in for free. We stopped at her dorm and got ready to go. Then my other friend's [there were four of us] car died in the fifteen minute parking. It was probably around one in the morning.
No problems, her dad just had to wake up and travel a few minutes to jump start the car. Then we went back to Chris' house to switch cars, because Amelia had to take her car back home, since everyone was scared it wasn't going to start in the morning. By that time, it was around two, so there was no point in going to the club, since it closed at three.
So we went to Taco Bell and drove out to Genoa... to cornfields. We were totally going to be rebels and get lost in them, but when we were standing on the edge, me and Amelia heard something in the fields. I'm not even kidding. There was some sort of creature in the cornfield that was going to eat us--I saw the stalks move. So we ran back to the car dramatically, screaming and such. My friend climbed in and since her car wasn't an automatic unlocker, she had to manually open all four door from the inside. If there was an animal that was going to eat us, it definitely would have gotten us. Especially if it was the "Jeepers Creepers guy that was going to massacre us."
From there, there was another pit stop at Jewel, after a successful run of the Chinese Firedrill, and we went back to the house. By that time, it was four in the morning and we were done. There were problems with the sleeping arrangements, but I managed to get the bed. That was all I cared about.
Sunday, the day I was leaving, I, by chance, managed to see a friend that went to University of Illinois... about an hour after church ended [slept through it], so that was pretty nice. My mom and I went to the usual haunts we hadn't been to in so long and then headed west... back to Iowa. I got to stop by at my other friend's college, because she was on the way, and spent some time with her. Then we left.
Now I'm here, in Muscatine. I believe I'm going back to Cedar Rapids, to spend the night at Chelsea's house, tomorrow. Then on Wednesday, we're leaving to go back to school at noon. I have my work study at five-thirty and then it's back to the same old.
And that was my super Fall Break in a very, very long blog entry. ^^
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Proceed with Caution
(Just a nice group picture, ^^)
(Dinner before Homecoming Dance)Alright, it has been a while since I last updated, but I assure you, nothing extraordinary happened.
Except the terrible, excruciating loss of my precious iPod.
I'm going to make an analogy out of this experience and see it in a positive light, because if I concentrate on the fact that it is in destroyed shambles on my desk in my dorm, then I will probably cry, as I cried when I found it in the dryer that fateful Thursday.
iPod:washer::Grades:laziness
Just like the washer destroyed my ipod, laziness will destroy your grades--and I mean laziness in a general term. I have learned a lot in the last two weeks about how three-hour naps kill and how going to bed at three in the morning because you started your homework late at night sucks.
For example, Biology, my hardest, most demanding, and brain-melting class was in the pits a few weeks ago. I took the midterm, bombed the midterm, and stuggled to get my grade up. Clearly, I wasn't struggling enough because it just kept on dropping.
How did I get there? Not doing the reading, not printing the syllabus, and falling asleep in class because, apparently, the hour long nap between calc and bio doesn't suffice. Basically, I got lazy. The book was too heavy to carry into the study lounge or I was sleeping/eating dinner/doing other homework/social needs. I started my homework about the crack of midnight, which, when I think back on it, is seriously not a good idea. At all. Then I found out that if you get a 70% or lower you don't get credit for the class. So I panicked and freaked out [which, again, seriously DOES NOT help] and tried to organize a plan to get back on track.
Plans, for someone like me, totally don't work. So, I never actually increased my grade, but it didn't drop... at least.
From the failure of my plan, I realized that the only way to get better was just to jump in. Jump in and hope you don't accidentally hit the bottom of the pool and die [probably a bit dark, so we'll say unconscious]. That was exactly what I did and like magic, I swear it was like magic, I could suddenly get credit for my class.
I prevented what happened to my ipod because I was careless and unobservant to happen to my bio grade.
How am I going to prevent it more? I'm getting a tutor after fall break to help me organize... to be honest, I'm not sure what she'll do, but I'll take whatever I can get. The resources at the college are there for you and are there to help you, so why not take advantage of them and not fail?
I guess that's all for now.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Marcie's Homecoming Week
Hello dilligent readers [as I'm sure you are],
I have a story with a lesson and a moral, so listen and learn.
Sunday, shortly after I posted, I came down with a terrible, terrible sickness. I didn't notice it until I woke up the next day feeling terrible and disgusting and unable to breathe and move. Not fun. I blamed it all on staying up so late to write the Paideia paper that I had spent so much time procrastinating on. As well as the work-study hours that I deemed 'appropriate' for myself.
So I went to classes and promptly crashed on my roommate's carpet at every available opportunity. That was fun. I went to classes up until Wednesday where I almost made it. I couldn't go to choir because I knew that there was no way I could last through work study afterward. I sent an email to the director [always a good idea, especially if you're sending it AFTER you missed the rehearsal] and then slept for three hours until I had to go to work.
Then I dropped about twenty cups, almost broke six plates, and almost died walking down a hallway about five times. Gotta love the dish room.
Around Thursday I felt better. I could walk without a swagger and I knew where I was 90% of the time. The urge to sleep in the first available corner had alleviated a little bit. I was still highly toxic and my roommates kicked me out of the room because we ran out of tissues and I was coughing everywhere. That was fun. I saw Moulin Rouge that day though, so it wasn't so bad.
Lesson[s]: Go to Health Services. They give you decongestants. And get sleep. Lots of it. Wash your hands all the time. Don't let your roommates breathe on you, because that's how I got sick. Use medicine--stock up!
I gradually got better--just in time for homecoming! We won our game against Central, which is always a good time. My high school had been so bad at football that it was a bit strange to be on the side of a winning team, but I'm not complaining. I only caught the last quarter of the game because there was an ongoing biology lab going on at the same time -- so no one rely on me to give a play by play.
Afterward, there was the dance. I have naturally curly hair, even though right now and in my picture I have straight hair. It's so curly it takes me two hours to straighten it. Fun times. I originally wasn't going to do much, but when I realized my hair was two different length [slept on one side when it was wet], I realized that it had to change. So I straightened it. Then it took me forever to find something dance-like to wear, since all my dresses are at home.
After the primping and getting ready, me and five others went to Mabe's--my favorite pizza place here. Here's an additional lesson, folks. One large pizza is not nearly enough for six people -- and order a pitcher. We learned that the hard way when no one walked away from the restaurant full since we had all skipped lunch to do our hair and get dressed.
The dance itself was like any other... with swing dancing! It was awesome. I actually got to swing dance with someone--who knew those lessons in sixth grade would actually pay off? I sure didn't. I was surprised to see all the other people who knew how to swing dance. In Chicago, swing dancing is not typical knowledge... or even knowledge. It was a new experience, for sure, but one I'm going to remember.
I guess... that's about it for now.
Marcie.
I have a story with a lesson and a moral, so listen and learn.
Sunday, shortly after I posted, I came down with a terrible, terrible sickness. I didn't notice it until I woke up the next day feeling terrible and disgusting and unable to breathe and move. Not fun. I blamed it all on staying up so late to write the Paideia paper that I had spent so much time procrastinating on. As well as the work-study hours that I deemed 'appropriate' for myself.
So I went to classes and promptly crashed on my roommate's carpet at every available opportunity. That was fun. I went to classes up until Wednesday where I almost made it. I couldn't go to choir because I knew that there was no way I could last through work study afterward. I sent an email to the director [always a good idea, especially if you're sending it AFTER you missed the rehearsal] and then slept for three hours until I had to go to work.
Then I dropped about twenty cups, almost broke six plates, and almost died walking down a hallway about five times. Gotta love the dish room.
Around Thursday I felt better. I could walk without a swagger and I knew where I was 90% of the time. The urge to sleep in the first available corner had alleviated a little bit. I was still highly toxic and my roommates kicked me out of the room because we ran out of tissues and I was coughing everywhere. That was fun. I saw Moulin Rouge that day though, so it wasn't so bad.
Lesson[s]: Go to Health Services. They give you decongestants. And get sleep. Lots of it. Wash your hands all the time. Don't let your roommates breathe on you, because that's how I got sick. Use medicine--stock up!
I gradually got better--just in time for homecoming! We won our game against Central, which is always a good time. My high school had been so bad at football that it was a bit strange to be on the side of a winning team, but I'm not complaining. I only caught the last quarter of the game because there was an ongoing biology lab going on at the same time -- so no one rely on me to give a play by play.
Afterward, there was the dance. I have naturally curly hair, even though right now and in my picture I have straight hair. It's so curly it takes me two hours to straighten it. Fun times. I originally wasn't going to do much, but when I realized my hair was two different length [slept on one side when it was wet], I realized that it had to change. So I straightened it. Then it took me forever to find something dance-like to wear, since all my dresses are at home.
After the primping and getting ready, me and five others went to Mabe's--my favorite pizza place here. Here's an additional lesson, folks. One large pizza is not nearly enough for six people -- and order a pitcher. We learned that the hard way when no one walked away from the restaurant full since we had all skipped lunch to do our hair and get dressed.
The dance itself was like any other... with swing dancing! It was awesome. I actually got to swing dance with someone--who knew those lessons in sixth grade would actually pay off? I sure didn't. I was surprised to see all the other people who knew how to swing dance. In Chicago, swing dancing is not typical knowledge... or even knowledge. It was a new experience, for sure, but one I'm going to remember.
I guess... that's about it for now.
Marcie.
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