English:
Tuesday, we discussed "Once More to the Lake" by E.B. White. I could not get into reading this essay at all. I HATED it, and hated him even more for writing it! I think it just has bad timing, since I spent most of the weekend writing my rough draft on Jason's diagnosis. The last thing you want to read is some rich, white guy bonding with his son at the lake he and his father used to "summer" at for a month. Weirdly, I was more physically emotional reading this crap about his "... groin feeling the cold chill of death" when his son put on a wet swimsuit, than writing Jason's essay. Suck it, E.B. White! You, Wilbur, Charlotte, and and your flacid vitals need to quit making me cry. I guess the whole what- was- once- was, and what coulda, shoulda been, was conflicting. I got 3 out of 5 on the "Didja read it, 'cause I assigned it" paper.
So I got a glowing review on my first essay. It's probably the best grade that I have ever received on anything ever. She said she was going to keep a copy on file and present it to students who asked what it took to get an A. She told me that for honor's I need to write a ten page paper, and I should not have any problem whipping out something like that. We'll see.
Thursday, we had our peer review of our rough draft of our descriptive narrative essays. This was really hard, long, and probably deeply psychotic to write. I started this on Friday around 10am, and didn't stop until Max was banging on the front door, since he was home from school. This paper is only to be 2-3 pages long, and I had seven pages before we even left the first hospital. There is just so much to a day like that. All the details would get so suffocating, that I would cry and have to lay on the floor a few times. Poor Max came home to a deeply disturbed woman. But I finished it with a little help with my pop's, sister-pants, good friends, and wine. There were two others in my peer group. One had written an essay about her family of nine growing up in a two bedroom apartment, which was pretty good. The other had a handwritten six pages of the longest run-on sentence ever recorded by man. It was about her and high school friend getting in a fist fight with other girls that weren't respecting them. I think she had the best response to my rough draft. She asked if it was a true story, and if I was okay. I told her yes to the first and no to the second.
Algebra:
Quiz 3 was Tuesday. So was a discussion on inequalities. A very long discussion. There are certainly all sorts of inequalities sitting in the desks in this room.
Thursday, I got 14/15 on my quiz. Stupid negative integers screwing up my stuff! It's the little things that get you. I get the feeling that a lot in our class are struggling due to every single quiz problem was questioned. I really admire this instructor. She is a true Zen master among the hopelessly ignorant. We then took our test on Chapters 3 and 4. There were just a few word problems that seemed kind of dumbed down compared to what our homework from our textbook is. For that, I thank her. I can figure out 20% off an $80 blouse at Macy's, AND show my work. I can figure out m+35=5(m+7)-4m. Woo-hoo, all real numbers. Let's see how we keep up the momentum on this though.
Oral Comm:
Tuesday was review for our test. After our review, we broke into groups with new people. We have a 15 minute group presentation on three topics from present day that will go into a time capsule. Our group had hammered down food, and either health, entertainment, or politics. This seems like a real Motley Crue.
Thursday, was on test on perception. It was a little more difficult than I thought it would be. I think because we just took a test on perception in Media, and a lot of the terms were somewhat similar, yet different too. After the test, we broke into groups again. One of our group members is profoundly unstable. One of those who talks out her thoughts... on ev-er-y-thing. At one point, I think she was just talking to her self, but looking at all of us. I think we have food, health, and entertainment decided upon, but I think we could have accomplished a lot more, if I could clothespin Golem's mouth. This ought to be a very "precious" presentation.
Media:
Tuesday was a test day, so once we took it, we were out the door.
Thursday, we got our test back, and I got an 86%. I'm a little shocked by that one, but I see what went wrong where. We watched our Genders studies movie, and then watched a student with a mind like a steal trap, not comprehend any of it.
Why are the ignorant always the loudest? There still is a little more of it to see on next Tuesday, so I'm sure we'll be even more exposed to a human booster shot of stupid. Can't wait.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Day 10 - first fight with campus cop
Yeah, I don't think that will be my last encounter either. I get to school, and the parking lots are full, so I park on one of the side streets, like I've done for the past month. Only this time, I get stopped by an "Excuse me, ma'am, did you just park there?" Ok, don't EVER "ma'am" me. Nothing flips me into bitch mode quicker than the "M" word. I said, "Yeah, I park there all the time." She told me I couldn't, even though, there were no signs, even though, there were no parking cones, even though I pulled up behind 6six cars that were all ready parked there, even though three cars pulled up and parked behind me. I told her to just write her ticket, that I didn't have time for this. I'm glad I called her bluff, because there was no ticket on my car, or anyone else's when I went out after class. Puh, campus cops are lower than mall cops. At least mall cops will throw their keys at you.
English:
So, I was just stewing about that broad, and not very participatory in discussion, as I was envisioning my car be towed by the company "You Paid For It" - Elliott Davis is always chasing. Ironically, we read some of Sherman Alexie, a Native American writer, who wrote some great essays about the oppression he experienced growing up on a campus... uhhh... reservation. Man, I could relate to Cries-Like-A-White-Boy. Also, I was really amused by my class mate, who was DRINKING from her can of BBQ Pringles. I guess she couldn't get her massive hamhock-like fist down the tube, down to her processed foods goodness, and was applying a basic rule of physics. Yum. Our professor, told me to wait a moment after class, and I thought I was going to get a talking to from her. It was actually really nice, she told me to sign up for the honor's program, that me and a couple of others were good enough writers to seek that out. I thanked her and then had asked her if she knew who I could talk to about about these pigeonholing campus cops. She sighed and rolled her eyes, and gave me a couple of phone numbers. She, I like.
Algebra:
We got our take home quiz back, and I got 17/15. Thank God for bonus points, I'm going to take those where I can get them.
It's starting to sound more like a dead language class, as we are venturing further down the rabbit hole with story problems, and less with the linear stuff. Here is where I'm going to need to take the blue pill or the red pill. I guess that would make our instructor the Caterpillar, or maybe the Mad Hatter... and we're just a bunch of tweedle-dums.
Oral Comm:
This was a jiffy class, in by 12:30 and out by 1:10. She gave us back our group presentation grade, and ours was 18/15. Woo-hoo, more bonus points. 5th graders rule! We have another test on Tuesday about perception. NOt really a whole lot to communicate on this class about communication.
Media:
I talked with the professor about my B, and she "uped" me to a B+. She said mine was one of the first papers she read, and she didn't have a grade gauge established for the whole class assignment yet. I'm still not real happy with that either, but I don't want to start arguing for grades this early on. She said that was one of the higher grades in my class, where the class average was around a C-. Wow, I guess I get to tow the line. Last night, on the Simpsons, Lisa gave a powerpoint presentation, and at the end of it, she tagged it with "Targeted Grade: A/A+" I might lift that for my next paper for her.
English:
So, I was just stewing about that broad, and not very participatory in discussion, as I was envisioning my car be towed by the company "You Paid For It" - Elliott Davis is always chasing. Ironically, we read some of Sherman Alexie, a Native American writer, who wrote some great essays about the oppression he experienced growing up on a campus... uhhh... reservation. Man, I could relate to Cries-Like-A-White-Boy. Also, I was really amused by my class mate, who was DRINKING from her can of BBQ Pringles. I guess she couldn't get her massive hamhock-like fist down the tube, down to her processed foods goodness, and was applying a basic rule of physics. Yum. Our professor, told me to wait a moment after class, and I thought I was going to get a talking to from her. It was actually really nice, she told me to sign up for the honor's program, that me and a couple of others were good enough writers to seek that out. I thanked her and then had asked her if she knew who I could talk to about about these pigeonholing campus cops. She sighed and rolled her eyes, and gave me a couple of phone numbers. She, I like.
Algebra:
We got our take home quiz back, and I got 17/15. Thank God for bonus points, I'm going to take those where I can get them.
It's starting to sound more like a dead language class, as we are venturing further down the rabbit hole with story problems, and less with the linear stuff. Here is where I'm going to need to take the blue pill or the red pill. I guess that would make our instructor the Caterpillar, or maybe the Mad Hatter... and we're just a bunch of tweedle-dums.
Oral Comm:
This was a jiffy class, in by 12:30 and out by 1:10. She gave us back our group presentation grade, and ours was 18/15. Woo-hoo, more bonus points. 5th graders rule! We have another test on Tuesday about perception. NOt really a whole lot to communicate on this class about communication.
Media:
I talked with the professor about my B, and she "uped" me to a B+. She said mine was one of the first papers she read, and she didn't have a grade gauge established for the whole class assignment yet. I'm still not real happy with that either, but I don't want to start arguing for grades this early on. She said that was one of the higher grades in my class, where the class average was around a C-. Wow, I guess I get to tow the line. Last night, on the Simpsons, Lisa gave a powerpoint presentation, and at the end of it, she tagged it with "Targeted Grade: A/A+" I might lift that for my next paper for her.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Day 9 o' school
English:
My classmates are starting to grow on me like bread mold.
Our instructor left our reading assignment handout in her office.
When she left to go get them, one of the younger ones announced that she had candy for sale.
The guy next to her asked if her kid was selling it for school, and she said she was selling it for her wedding.
So, a line of about seven form to buy snickers bars in the back of the class.
Our instructor had returned, when she was on her 4th transaction, and started passing out our assignment.
She teacher-glared at the last little candy girl, who actually said to her, "What, I can't do that?"
She firmly told her to sit down.
We read, "The DIscus Thrower" by Richard Selzer, which was really hard to digest, as it was about a patient in the final stages of dying. I don't think I blinked once, just so I could keep my eyes good and dry.
Later in the class, we broke into groups to do a narrative dialogue.
My partner and I got Peter Pumpkin Eater and Wife. That was another little slice, as I would sometimes call Jason that when I was angry at him. The only nice thing about that class was when one of the chip girls got a candy bar wrapper stuck to her shoe, when we were leaving.
Algebra:
We had to turn in our take home quiz today. The whole class was passing around each other's test to see if we even came close to our answers. It's weirdly a little reassuring to see so many people struggling. We have another quiz tomorrow, and I'd rather put tacks in my gums than take it. Two words:story problems. No one speaks that way. NO ONE!
Oral Comm:
Today we had our group presentation. It was pretty fun, and got lots of giggles. I think ours was pretty well received. Our instructor seemed pretty pleased, and said it was creative. Next class is just review for another test. Ya-hey.
Media:
We got our perceived racism papers back, and I got a "B". Not sure why, there weren't any comments. "B"'s are all that bad, but I think that is the best I'm going to be able to write. She had quoted my paper in class too, so it couldn't have been all that awful. I'll talk to her about it tomorrow, but man, I wonder what it takes to get an A.
My classmates are starting to grow on me like bread mold.
Our instructor left our reading assignment handout in her office.
When she left to go get them, one of the younger ones announced that she had candy for sale.
The guy next to her asked if her kid was selling it for school, and she said she was selling it for her wedding.
So, a line of about seven form to buy snickers bars in the back of the class.
Our instructor had returned, when she was on her 4th transaction, and started passing out our assignment.
She teacher-glared at the last little candy girl, who actually said to her, "What, I can't do that?"
She firmly told her to sit down.
We read, "The DIscus Thrower" by Richard Selzer, which was really hard to digest, as it was about a patient in the final stages of dying. I don't think I blinked once, just so I could keep my eyes good and dry.
Later in the class, we broke into groups to do a narrative dialogue.
My partner and I got Peter Pumpkin Eater and Wife. That was another little slice, as I would sometimes call Jason that when I was angry at him. The only nice thing about that class was when one of the chip girls got a candy bar wrapper stuck to her shoe, when we were leaving.
Algebra:
We had to turn in our take home quiz today. The whole class was passing around each other's test to see if we even came close to our answers. It's weirdly a little reassuring to see so many people struggling. We have another quiz tomorrow, and I'd rather put tacks in my gums than take it. Two words:story problems. No one speaks that way. NO ONE!
Oral Comm:
Today we had our group presentation. It was pretty fun, and got lots of giggles. I think ours was pretty well received. Our instructor seemed pretty pleased, and said it was creative. Next class is just review for another test. Ya-hey.
Media:
We got our perceived racism papers back, and I got a "B". Not sure why, there weren't any comments. "B"'s are all that bad, but I think that is the best I'm going to be able to write. She had quoted my paper in class too, so it couldn't have been all that awful. I'll talk to her about it tomorrow, but man, I wonder what it takes to get an A.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
8th day o' school
My seventh day of community college was a snow day for me and Max. My best day of community college ever!
Here is my recap of my eighth day:
English:
I turned in my paper draft of my example essay, and am eager to see what my grade will be.
We started discussing our next paper, a narrative, descriptive essay. I'm thinking about writing about the
first twenty-four hours of Jason's cancer diagnosis, but I'm not sure, if I'm ready to start to digging at that wide open wound, yet. I do like how our professor told us we could not write about the birth of babies, or our graduation day. I can't imagine what is has to be like to be her. Just to sit and devote at least a half a day to reading so many clunk-il-ly written papers. It's a struggle sometimes to read good writing, much less developing writing.
Algebra:
We got our first tests back, and I got a 95%! We were given an additional 5 points because our instructor was unable to display the information through our blackboard program. The couple of errors that I made were just stupid little ones, like leaving off a negative sign, or basic arithmetic. At least I'm getting the gist, I just need to be more careful with the details.
Oral Comm:
I got an A- on my first test. We broke into groups in order to discuss our next presentation. Me and my group of four are doing a version of "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?", and are to engage our audience with some of the terms we have learned about perception. I really hope me and my community college oral comm class are smarter than fifth graders, but that remains to be seen until Tuesday. I should bring Max in to assist.
Media:
I turned in my 3 page paper on "How I am Perceived In My Race." My introduction started: "I am a wonder bread, honky, poppin' fresh, uncle daddy, vanilla, mayonnaise mama. At least, according to the Racial Slur Data Base (www.rsdb.org)."...and it went on and on from there. RSDB is really one of the worst sites in the world. There are over 2000 slurs, and it just keeps growing. It really is amazing how stupid we people is.
This class wasn't as much fun as normal, as we just went over terms from the first chapter. Oh well, can't be a party all the time.
Here is my recap of my eighth day:
English:
I turned in my paper draft of my example essay, and am eager to see what my grade will be.
We started discussing our next paper, a narrative, descriptive essay. I'm thinking about writing about the
first twenty-four hours of Jason's cancer diagnosis, but I'm not sure, if I'm ready to start to digging at that wide open wound, yet. I do like how our professor told us we could not write about the birth of babies, or our graduation day. I can't imagine what is has to be like to be her. Just to sit and devote at least a half a day to reading so many clunk-il-ly written papers. It's a struggle sometimes to read good writing, much less developing writing.
Algebra:
We got our first tests back, and I got a 95%! We were given an additional 5 points because our instructor was unable to display the information through our blackboard program. The couple of errors that I made were just stupid little ones, like leaving off a negative sign, or basic arithmetic. At least I'm getting the gist, I just need to be more careful with the details.
Oral Comm:
I got an A- on my first test. We broke into groups in order to discuss our next presentation. Me and my group of four are doing a version of "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?", and are to engage our audience with some of the terms we have learned about perception. I really hope me and my community college oral comm class are smarter than fifth graders, but that remains to be seen until Tuesday. I should bring Max in to assist.
Media:
I turned in my 3 page paper on "How I am Perceived In My Race." My introduction started: "I am a wonder bread, honky, poppin' fresh, uncle daddy, vanilla, mayonnaise mama. At least, according to the Racial Slur Data Base (www.rsdb.org)."...and it went on and on from there. RSDB is really one of the worst sites in the world. There are over 2000 slurs, and it just keeps growing. It really is amazing how stupid we people is.
This class wasn't as much fun as normal, as we just went over terms from the first chapter. Oh well, can't be a party all the time.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Day 6 o' school
Okay, sorry I missed a couple of days. My algebra book finally arrived, and I had to play a lot of catch up with homework.
English:
Today, our rough drafts of our example essay were due. My paper was about my experience writing an essay in 1990 and 2010.
We broke into small groups, and the other two peer papers were about kid and gangs and becoming a teenage mom. Once we filled out our peer review sheets, we could leave. My peers took the entire class to read all four pages and review my paper. I made the mistake of opening my water bottle in class, and found out that it still contained vodka from last night. So, I should explain last night, now. I had seen on Alton Brown, that you can pour vodka through a water filter a few times, and that it would improve the flavor. So, I tried this "experiment", and it really works. I flushed my filter with water after I drained the vodka out of it, and then refilled it. I guess it's going to require a few more filter flushings, or I'm going to take Mr. & Mrs. T Rich and Spicy Bloody Mary Mix to English.
Algebra:
Today was our first test. I had studied for it like a crazy person, so I'm hoping for a good grade. My teacher informed me that I was not on her electronic roster, and would need to go to admissions to find out why. Great, I never even needed to be in that class! So after the test, and twenty minutes waiting in line at admissions, I found out it all came down to a clerical typo, and I was where I need to be.
Oral Comm:
We had our first test in this class, too. Easy and all definitions, and we were set free, when we were done. THis class gets cut early quite a bit. I like that aspect of it.
Media:
Our professor is back on tour with her play, so no class today, again. I ended up getting 9 out of 10 points on my paper comparing THe Daily Show and NBC Nightly News, because I didn't have my name at the top. Our next paper topic is "How people view you on your perceived race". We need 2 sources, 1 being a hardcopy, and work cited MLA form... oh, and NO wikipedia! It's great she even has to state that.
English:
Today, our rough drafts of our example essay were due. My paper was about my experience writing an essay in 1990 and 2010.
We broke into small groups, and the other two peer papers were about kid and gangs and becoming a teenage mom. Once we filled out our peer review sheets, we could leave. My peers took the entire class to read all four pages and review my paper. I made the mistake of opening my water bottle in class, and found out that it still contained vodka from last night. So, I should explain last night, now. I had seen on Alton Brown, that you can pour vodka through a water filter a few times, and that it would improve the flavor. So, I tried this "experiment", and it really works. I flushed my filter with water after I drained the vodka out of it, and then refilled it. I guess it's going to require a few more filter flushings, or I'm going to take Mr. & Mrs. T Rich and Spicy Bloody Mary Mix to English.
Algebra:
Today was our first test. I had studied for it like a crazy person, so I'm hoping for a good grade. My teacher informed me that I was not on her electronic roster, and would need to go to admissions to find out why. Great, I never even needed to be in that class! So after the test, and twenty minutes waiting in line at admissions, I found out it all came down to a clerical typo, and I was where I need to be.
Oral Comm:
We had our first test in this class, too. Easy and all definitions, and we were set free, when we were done. THis class gets cut early quite a bit. I like that aspect of it.
Media:
Our professor is back on tour with her play, so no class today, again. I ended up getting 9 out of 10 points on my paper comparing THe Daily Show and NBC Nightly News, because I didn't have my name at the top. Our next paper topic is "How people view you on your perceived race". We need 2 sources, 1 being a hardcopy, and work cited MLA form... oh, and NO wikipedia! It's great she even has to state that.
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