Summer Reads

Since I decided to take a break from school this summer, I've decided that I want to read a few books. I'm realizing that summer is close to being halfway gone so I probably won't be able to read them all, but I'll try to read as many of them as I can.

I'm currently reading Dreadnought and so far I'm enjoying it. I have a friend who is a huge Steampunk fan and so I decided to give his books a try. I read Boneshaker last year (same author as Dreadnought and Clementine) and I really enjoyed it, so I think I'll enjoy these two books as well. I just barely started reading this week and with my busy work schedule, I read about a chapter a day before I fall asleep. After I finish Dreadnought I'll probably read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas next. I wathced the movie they made and I really enjoyed it so I think I'll give the book a try. Like I said earlier, I probably won't read all the books this summer (especially when I read a chapter a day ;-p) but I'll do the best I can!

Making Things Grow

I've never had a green thumb, and any plant I've ever had has died because of my inability to keep them alive.

For the past couple of months my mother has been working hard on her curb appeal. She's painted the porch and landscaped the yards. My mother asked me if I would water all her plants while she was in Pennsylvania visiting her family. I reluctantly agreed to water her plants since she was going to be away for almost a month. So...for the past two weeks I've been diligently watering the lawn by following the instructions from my mother.

I'm honestly very proud of myself for my hard work on the lawn. It's amazing how just a little water and some sunshine will help some of those plants grow. I'm especially proud of the elephant ears because they have grown the most in the past two weeks. When my mother left, there was only one elephant ear. Now, there are about 8 new ones that have popped out of the ground and started growing. I'm excited to see my elephant ears every morning when I water them.

Straight "A's"

My last day of school for Spring Semester 2011 was last Tuesday! I was thrilled when this semester finally came to an end. I enjoyed my classes this spring and I made some friends but DANG.....this was the toughest semester of college I've encountered thus far. This semester nearly killed me with all the reading, studying, researching, and writing that was involved. My psychology professor was the hardest professor you could get in the department and I literally worked my butt off.

My grades were posted today and I'm proud to announce that I got:

Technical Drawing: A

General Psychology: A

Public Speaking: A

It was an absolutely amazing feeling to get straight A's for my third semester in a row.

Psychology

My highest grade in this class was a 95 which was from my research paper on Narcissistic Personality Disorder. My lowest grade was a 90, and I have no idea what I received on my final exam....but it really doesn't matter at this point because I got my HARD EARNED A!!!

Public Speaking

I gave a total of 5 speeches in this class and I can honestly say that I improved GREATLY with each speech that I gave. My first speech received a 98 (I lost two points for holding my visual aids and note cards with two hands...lame). My second speech received a 97 (I lost two points for pacing around too much, and I lost 1 point for writing my outline in the incorrect format...lame). I decided to learn from my previous mistakes and I'm happy to say that I got a 100 on each of my last three speeches!!! Woo Hoo!! My professor asked me on the last day of class if I would join the debate team in the fall....I unfortunately declined, but at least I know I'm a good speaker now!!!

Drafting

I was scared to tears when I left this class on my first day back in February. My original class had been dropped and I had no other options than to take this class with the hard professor. I had heard horror stories about the professor and several of my classmates dropped her class after the first day. I decided that I could do anything if I put my mind and heart to it....AND I SUCCEEDED!!! I had to work really hard but by the end of the semester I absolutely loved my professor and I wish I could have her teach me the rest of the Interior Design classes in the program. My teacher loved me and she praised my work constantly. She told the class that my work was exceptional!!

My secret for getting straight A's: There are no secrets....I'm PERFECT!! LOL

(just do the best you can and take the time for perfection)

Yeah for school being over but boo that my jobs are scheduling me like crazy again!! I do need the money though :)

Hello World

There is absolutely too much that has happened since I last posted so I'm not even go to start to try and catch up. However....life is good but school is keeping me busier than I would like to admit. At least the semester is almost over and I just have to keep taking everything one day at a time.

Psychology

This class is killing me....and not very softly. I was really enjoying the class at the beginning of the semester but I'm sure as heck ready to be done with it. I took my 4th and final test for this class today. I've gotten two "A's" and one high "B" on my first three tests. I'm not sure how well I did on the test today but I hope I got another "A" so I can drop the "B." I spent the majoritiy of my spring break (6 days) writing extremely difficult essays for this class. Luckily I got an "A"....I was really starting to freak out when I noticed the guy that sits in front of me got a 41 on his! YIKES!!! I've been putting all my energy into this class and I've finally hit my exhaustion phase in the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). All that is left to do this semester for this class is to finish writing my research paper on Narcissistic Personality Disorder and the Final Exam. I can do it!

Public Speaking

I'm ready for this class to be over too. My teacher is the most unprofessional and unorganized professor I have ever had. He is literally a minimum of 20 minutes late to every class and he never has time to finish his lectures and I feel like my hard earned money that is paying for his class is going to waste. I paid to take a 1 hour 20 minute class....not a 50 minute class. On the day we took our midterm....my professor had the gall to answer a personal phone call on his cell during our exam. Then he decides to take his phone call to the hallway and he leaves us TAKING AN EXAM unattended. He got so mad at the class when he discovered that a group of individuals cheated on the exam (he only discovered when he graded the exams). What do you expect when you leave a class room unattended during a test. He told the select individuals that if they cheated on the Final Exam they would receive zeros. My advice...don't leave the class during an exam....IDIOT!!! Other than that the class is going fine. We've done two speechs (I got a 98 and 97 on them) and our midterm (I got a 98). We still have 3 more speeches to go and then our final! Everything is happening all at once and I'm ready to poke my eyes out. Between researching for my PSYC paper and researching for my next 3 speeches....I'm surprised I'm not bald yet.

Drafting

I bet you could guess....YEP....I'm ready for this class to be over as well. I'm actually doing way better than I thought I'd be doing when I started this class and discovered I had the hard teacher. I actually have a high "A" so far. We just have one more test, our final (and killer) drafting project, and the final exam. Our final drafting project is going to be REALLY hard but I'm going to do the best I can. So far I think I'm going to be fine but it'll be a lot to work on for the next few weeks. It's just really unfortunate that I draft so slow....precision can be a curse.

Overall, school has kept me extra busy and I'm exhausted. Only 5 more weeks to go till

SUMMER VACATION....oh yea!!!

Woo Hoo!!!

Sooooo.......

I passed my Psychology test!

It wasn't an "A" but it was an 88 which is pretty impressive for this class. I was one question away from receiving an "A"....shucks!! (meaning: I missed 6 out of 50 questions and I would have gotten an "A" if I'd only missed 5.)

I was really getting worried that I'd get a "C" on this one.

Yeah....I didn't!!!

Just wanted to share my excitement!

School News

Since school appears to be the only part of my life, currently, I'd like to update how my classes are going.

Psychology

I took my second test today and it was a really challenging test for me. Our teacher doesn't exactly make the class easy. Most of her test questions require you to think critically, which can be difficult for me. I'll know a definition of a term and understand it but when put in a different context I can get confused. I got an "A" on the first test and so I was determined to get another "A" on the test taken today. I made sure that I studied even harder than the first time. I've been studying for today's test since last week. I've pretty much been sleeping and eating Psychology. Today's test really stressed me out. I had really wanted to relax the rest of today after taking the test and all I could do when I left school was think about some of those stupid questions on the test. I feel confident that I passed but I'm worried that I didn't pull off the "A" that I studied and worked hard for. I guess I'll find out on Monday what I got on the exam. I hope not to be too disappointed with the grade.

Public Speaking

Our teacher finally brought back our graded Icebreaker Speeches. I got a 98....not bad. He took off 2 points because I didn't hold my notes or objects in one hand. Lame!!! Overall I'm very happy with the grade. I give my next speech in two weeks. The speeches start on Monday but I pulled a good card out of the deck, 8 of Spades, and so I get to speak on the last day of speeches. Lucky me!!! Unfortunately we all have to turn in our speech outlines on Monday so I was forced to write it tonight. I think it turned out pretty awesome. Maybe I'll post it for your enjoyment.

Drafting

We had our first drafting test on Tuesday!!! I got a 98 on the test which I'm also very proud of. I lost 2 points on the floor plan section of the test. Apparently I'm not very good at drawing doors and I made the stupid door too narrow....oops. I lost my other point for making my interior walls 6" thick instead of 4"....another oops!!! I must have been daydreaming the day she told us interior walls were generally 4" and exterior walls were 6". I also got my first 100 on a Lettering Assignment!!! Whoop whoop!!! If I get a 100 on the next one I don't have to do anymore lettering exercises....which would be a great stress reliever. With my 100 and 98 my "low overall A" in the class has been brought up to a "mid/high A!!"

I hope I can keep up the good work because I'm already starting to get exhausted from this stupid semester. I never get a break in life...if it isn't work, it's school. I finish one assignment and I have to start another. I finish studying for one test and I have to start studying for another. I finish one research paper and I have to research for another!!! The cycle just keeps going and going and I'm ready for it to stop. I sure wish I had done this whole school thing when I was younger, had more energy, and had less financial obligations. This hard work better pay off in the end....because it's probably gonna kill me!!!

Catch Up Time

YES, I'm still alive!!! I've just been VERY busy with school and other stuff. Maybe I'll post a little more during Spring Break (sometime in March) when I might have a little more time on my hands.

School
Since the last time I posted, I started my other two classes: Public Speaking and Drafting! I have a story to tell about my Drafting class but I'm not telling it during this post. With 3 classes to focus on...I'm a stressed out mess most of the time. I have taken my first Psychology test and I'm proud to announce that I got the only "A" in the whole class. The teacher told me, in private, that most of the class failed. Yeah for me!!
I've also given my first speech, Icebreaker Speech, which was given on the second day of class! Our teacher is very forgetful and he still hasn't brought back our graded speeches....so needless to say...I don't know how I did, grade wise, but I feel like I did a really good job.
I got an 80 on my first drafting assignment :-( but because I have a 100 on a classwork assignment, my overall grade is still an "A" (just a low "A").
I was hoping that I wouldn't have to spend too much money this semester on supplies but I was wrong. I had to buy a drafting board so I could do my drafting homework and it cost me almost $100. YIKES!! I used it tonight and it seems to have been a good investment.
Overall, school is stressing me out but I seem to be doing well in all 3 classes so far and I'm enjoying all of them!!
OHHH...and I have a stalker from my speech class but I'll talk about him some other time...CREEPY DUDE!!!

Work
To be honest....I don't really have anything to say about work other than I'm still working two jobs. Palais Royal has cut my hours a bit which I'm super grateful for. Now I can dedicate more time to my studies. Gymboree is having to learn that I'm really not that available for them. I feel bad that I only work one day a week for them but hey...I'm not complaining and I'm sure they would let me know if it was a problem for them.

My Weekend
My older sister (her husband and 4 kids) and my little brother, who both live in Utah, came to visit last Thursday. My older brother, who lives in Dallas, also came down so we could all spend some time together as a family. It was really nice having all 4 of us kids back together again with mom and dad. I took off some extra time with my jobs so that I could spend the majority of their time here with them. They were here 6 days and I had off 5 of those days. It was really nice and we had a lot of good laughs together. As fun as it was, it was extremely loud and stressful. Lucky me got to share a room with my sister's 3 oldest children. I love my niece and nephews but they kept me up most of the nights. Needless to say...I didn't get much sleep while they were here AND I didn't get much homework done either. They left yesterday and it was sad to say goodbye but now I can spend some time on my studies.

Speaking of studies....I should get back to them now (before I get too tired).