Editing Day in class...

I guess that a lot of my "peers" felt that they had been screwed by their peer workshop groups as well. In the time that we were given today our instructor, the lovely Mrs. W, took as many of us seperately out into the hall and looked at our papers scanning them and giving us suggestions. My paper didn't have a whole lot that she commented on negatively. There was one paragraph that she said could use more of my thoughts and feelings, but that was out of five pages. The parts that I was questioning keeping in she validated and said that they fit into the story and helped support some other part. So there isn't too much in the way of revision that I have to do which is nice. I need to add a bit to one paragraph and clean some places up a little but other than that I didn't have many foreign marks on my paper. YAY!!!!

So I totally got screwed...

Yesterday in my Comp. II course we had peer workshops to get feedback on our recall essay outlines. I was with two other girls. One of the girls is from Africa. Her outline wasn't really an outline but more each point that she was going to hit on. I could tell the direction of her story and see that it was personal. Just the outline proved to be a very moving story about how coming to America has been a diverse learning experience, everything she overcame just to get her driver's license, and the events that led up to getting her license. The only problem is that she's pretty shy and not confident about her English vocabulary. So she did give some feedback but it wasn't to my outline.

The other girl came with a half-sheet typed outline of what is supposed to be a five page paper. Her subject was going to college, she said, because at this point in her life it's the only thing she's really learned from. I read what she wanted the content of her paper to be and it was, basically (not easy to do with the minimal amount of effort she put into it), going to college is hard. The reasons she gave for it being hard was not knowing where her classes were, not knowing where the gym was, and not knowing where the bus stop was. Then her second grouping of information was that she learned a lot by going to college. Her reasons were that she took a campus tour, she learned where her classes were, she found out where the gym was, and she found the bus stop. Her conclusion...College isn't so hard and she's made friends. After reading this I looked up and she asked, "Do you think I have enough for a five page paper?" I said, "Um no?!?!? I think you're going to need to really expand on your experience." So then she asked, "Like what?" I asked,"Was this really the hardest part about going to college? What about enrolling, registering, figuring that whole process out? You didn't have any problems with that?" I spent 45 minutes basically writing an outline for her while the African girl and I brainstormed what she could write about and what she may have learned by going to college. AND I WAS WORRIED ABOUT TAKING COMP II WHEN I SERIOUSLY DOUBT THIS GIRL IS ACTUALLY LITERATE!!!!!!

At the end of the class, which my instructor had to leave early because of a meeting, I went up to her and asked if she could tell me where the writing lab is. I proceeded to tell her that I did not get ANY feedback from my group and that I spent most of the time we had writing an outline for one of my partners. She replied that she had overheard a lot of that and that I wouldn't have to work with these same people again. She said that one the things she like about community college is the diversity in the types of people that attend and one of the things that can be a problem about community college is the diversity in where the people are when the come to community college. She said that if, because of peer editing, I don't get enough feedback and she grades my paper and I don't do well that I can talk with her about it. She can help me edit at that point and I can revise and turn it in again. I still plan on going to the Student Success Center and talk to the folks in the Writing Lab and get a little help from them for my paper.

I decided to write about going to my 10 year class reunion. I've been writing all afternoon, haven't even gotten to the actual reunion in my paper and I'm already nearing the end of page 3. I'm guessing I'm going to be able to take a lot of the stuff out about certain persons that I came into contact at the actual reunion. Otherwise, I could probably end up with a novelette.

So I should be doing homework...

However the boys have way too much energy after eating dinner. Dirty is gone for the MS 150. He'll be home in a couple of hours. He raised $700 towards the fight against MS.

I've been home with the boys alone all weekend. I haven't gotten any homework done. Well that's not true. I've read maybe four paragraphs of psychology and partially finished brainstorming for my comp. II course recall essay. I'm starting to understand why parents/adults push high school graduates to finish college while they still have no kids. My house was a mess. I spent about an hour today catching up on some of the cleaning. The cat litter, for instance, was starting to knock people unconscious when they would walk through the door. We were losing minutes lying on the floor trying to regain our composure. The bathroom was my own personal shame when Dirty's friend, BB, came over before they left for Columbia and used the bathroom while Dirty packed up. The bathroom hadn't been touched all week and was smelly and splattered with toothpaste. It was pretty embarrassing. Then I go look at my friend's 365 day portrait project to find this. I was so grateful that she only took a picture of the shower curtain.

I've watched four movies this weekend. A local blogger turned me onto illegal tv show and movie sites. I watched Juno (loved it), Lars and the Real Girl (loved it), Dan in Real Life (loved it), and 27 Dresses (it was alright for a chick flick). Finding free entertainment was nice and slightly titillating since it was illegal. I've also been watching tv shows that way too. Not so helpful on the finishing homework front but old habits die hard.

I've learned some new tricks and hopefully when you click on the hyperlinks they will open in a new window. I was told that it's too much of a bother to hit the back button and blog savvy folks will just move onto something else. This way instead of moving the mouse up to the back button you can move it to the "X" close window button. I'm wondering now that I wrote that though if it has something to do with the differences between MACs and PCs. Feel free to let me know and I apologize if I've offended with my naivete.

I am having a real issue with needing pockets. Sometimes I wear pants or a jacket and can keep my cell phone in them or keys or whatever. But a lot of the time I wear skirts or don't feel like having the bulk in my pockets. I've decided after many months of consideration that I am going to become "the lady who always wears an apron in her house" lady. I like having the easy access pockets and the keeping the front of my clothes clean aspect would also be nice. My only problem is that my one and only apron is not cute. It's navy canvas and boring, boring, boring. I want some old school style aprons. I saw an episode of Sex and the City where Charlotte was making her first Shabbat dinner. Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte were all wearing extremely cute stylish aprons. I either need to figure out how to sew and make my own or find someone else who does. I don't know why women stopped wearing them. It's not like they aren't functional...like gloves or hats.

So there's some good news and some bad news...

The bad news is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince "the movie" has had it's release date pushed back to something like next June/July. This really stinks but I think I read something about how this makes the last three Harry Potter movies come out closer together. That's good right?

The addititonal good news is that because the Harry Potter movie has been pushed back to a later date Twilight, the movie, is getting pushed up to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

I am excited. However, is any of this at all relevant considering the last movie I saw in a theater was Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix? I've wanted to see a few movies since then and just haven't. I guess I'm excited for all those people that spend their extra money on going to see movies in the theater. I wish I had extra money to spend on that stuff. This is all I have to think about since I am all wired for some odd reason. I am not tired at all...I guess I'll go watch some more tv. I turned it off in hopes of feeling more tired. It didn't work.

I passed my appeal, lazy day, reading juvenile literature...

This is kind of a school update. I got my appeal approval in the mail today. I've been given the okay to receive financial aid. YAY!!! The boys also had their first day of school today. I'll update on the specifics of that later. I spent most of the in a chair reading a book. I got the last installment of the Twilight series this weekend and am a little more than halfway through the book. It is SOOOOOOO good! TMA if you read this and would like to borrow the book you are more than welcome. I should be way done with it by the time you get home from yet another (wink) of your trips. I'm going to go read my book again.

I'm going to school!!!...UPDATE!!!

Well I'm going back to school. I successfully navigated that which is community college and 1.)had my student status changed to "regular" so that my credits would count and I can get financial aid 2.)sat with a counselor and made up a schedule 3.)met with a financial aid officer to fill out an appeal because my last set of grades from CC were no good. Now that those things are finished I am waiting for a letter stating that my appeal has been granted (so that I can get financial aid) and wait for my student ID to come in the mail. After sitting with a counselor I found out that my previously taken Biology class is no good because it's too old. So unfortunately I have to retake it. However, because of our current financial situation (which won't be that way forever) I was approved for a federal pell grant. That pell grant will cover EVERYTHING!!!! It will pay for all of my classes and I think it will cover all of my book expenses as well.

It was really a lovely surprise after waiting in the Financial Aid waiting area for 45 minutes to find out that it will all be covered. I am also proud to say that I kept a smile on my face and treated everyone kindly and with respect. First of all me with a smile on my face for three hours at a time is not something that happens often. Secondly to keep a smile on your face while dealing with crabby front desk FA guy, who is acting like you are extremely annoying for even thinking about asking him if the category that you signed in with is the correct category because you don't want to get sent to the wrong person only to find out that you had categorized yourself with the wrong number and then to cause frustration for them and me and also wasting my time and theirs, is not an easy feat. (Nice run on right? I might have better writing skills after I take my English 102-Intensive writing course.)

So now I am registered for four classes: Intro to Biology, General Psychology, Intro to Sociology, and College Comp II. I'm excited! I'm really looking forward to starting even though the girl who helped me get my id acted like I was a crazy person for taking the courses I'm taking. They aren't any different than the courses I was signing up for 10 years ago. I didn't really understand why she was acting like that. I'm more worried about statistics, macro economics, logic, and ethics. I guess I am slightly worried that I'll have nothing to write about for my College Comp II course. I don't do well if I'm not given a clear subject to draw from, and I'd rather not all of my papers be about all the day to day hum drum that is my life. I guess that's what this blog is about but is it really enough to carry a good grade in a college course??? I don't know.

Okay well before I freak myself out to much about the courses that I'm going to take this semester and in the future... send good thoughts my way and that of the appeals person in the financial aid office. I already know that I have favor but when two or more are gathered together...

Summer is winding down...

Well we've made it through two months of summer break!!! It was getting a little hairy mid-July. Then Yellow Belt started summer camp and for something that was supposed to make him a happier person he was really getting on my nerves throughout the experience. I know that sounds really awful but he was so tired which made him crabby. He was talking back and whining and being mean to Monkey. He was really quite unpleasant. I made a promise to myself to make sure that we actually do start up our bedtime routine again...now that there are just a couple of weeks until school starts. (Insert gasp here) I'm excited for the boys to start school. I'm hoping that with routine Monkey's potty-training regressions will stop completely. He's almost earned the Transformer that's been sitting on top of the upper kitchen cabinets (the only place he can't get to yet...well he probably could but that's something I listen for) for of couple weeks now. And since there are only two more weeks of summer break left for them I really want to enjoy them.

Today Yellow Belt had breakfast in bed while Monkey barged into my bedroom demanding that I "get out from under those sheets. Come into the kitchen and made me some breakfast as well. I want cocoa pops and milk in a bowl with a spoon and milk in a cup with a lid as well." ("As well" is his new favorite phrase.) I told him I was getting out of bed for no less than him asking politely for his breakfast. The first time he asked politely he did it with many "hmphs" and a little pouty attitude (thanks to Yellow Belt's example) which I told him wouldn't cut it. So then he asked nicely and I got out of bed. It's made me realize how nice it is that Yellow Belt doesn't like to eat right away when he wakes up and will play quietly by himself until I'm ready to get out of bed. Monkey has never given me that luxury.

One thing I did like about Yellow Belt being in camp, and so busy the last two weeks, was that I was alone with Monkey a lot with no interruptions. He's going through this "using big vocabulary" phase which is extremely cute. Even though he can be challenging sometimes he also really enjoyed being "the only child". Now I know that I've spent a lot of time with him in the past three and a half years but this summer it's been all three of us. Plus Monkey is at this really cute age where he has a lot to say and he has the language skills to do so. Monkey really gets a kick out of being funny. It's not really a making jokes funny but more him telling stories or using phrases that you would really expect to hear from a three year old. He's also really cuddle-y. He likes to tell stories. Unfortunately they mainly have to do with Transformers but he does add in other characters. It's really a lot of fun to hear him talk. I guess because I spend so much time with him that I understand him really well. I think he talks pretty clearly but most times I have to translate for others...or at least give them a general idea of what he's talking about (the topics aren't exactly varied). I guess it helps when you have a starting point.

I can't believe there are only two weeks left of summer vacation...