Year 1 Repost: March

Monday March 2, 2009

And so a new month begins...

The map quiz was so easy. If I don't get perfect I will be severely disappointed with myself. My FAW midterm on the other hand...I'm not so sure about. I definitely did not do as well as I could have. Problem with that midterm was I did not understand what I was supposed to be studying, so I didn't study nearly as much as I should have.

I think one of the major downsides of an online class is the lack of face to face communication. In class, if you have a question you simply raise your hand and everyone in the class hears the answer. In an online course it's likely every student has the same question, but the ones who are brave enough to ask are informed individually, and the not so brave (or lazy) ones do not get the information. In this case, I may not have gotten as much information as I could have if I had been more proactive, but I wasn't, so I'll have to deal with the consequences. I just hope the consequences aren't too high.

Next Monday the Concurrent Club is hosting a Bake Sale in the Neale Education building. If you're in the area come check it out, especially if you're a concurrent education student. :)

Wednesday March 4, 2009

Status = Busy

The class I would normally have during this time was canceled, so I have a bit of extra time to write my blog. I'm a little upset that my class was canceled, it is probably my favourite class of the day and I was looking forward to the day's lesson which was basically just watching the end of a documentary about when "Jane Doe" sued the Metropolitan Toronto Police Force in 1987. It was really interesting, and now I probably won't get the chance to see the rest.

My graded tests are slowly trickling back to me. So far I've managed to keep my grades up to where I need them to be, but they're right on the borderline. I'm not leaving myself much breathing room; one bad test could be a disaster. On a brighter note, it turns out I did get perfect on my map quiz, unfortunately it was only worth 10% of my grade. I won't complain though, ten percent is ten percent.

I have two midterms this Monday. It feels like there is always something to study for, which is because there always is something to study for. If it's not midterms I'm studying for, it's class preparation, or advance exam preparation...there's always something and the moment I don't have a list of ten things I should be doing, I know I'm not doing everything I should be. Speaking of which, I really need to get back to studying now.

April seems so far away right now.

Monday March 9, 2009

"It's Monday!" She squealed with excitement.

My weekend was completely absorbed by studying, but Friday night I found the time to see Watchmen. I was slightly disappointed with it, mostly because I had huge expectations for the movie. Everyone else I've spoken to about the movie absolutely loved it. I do recommend it, except if you have a thing against gore, because there is an awful lot of that.

My weekend began with my mother waking me up to let me know that my aunt had called her the previous night and said that she had seen me in Toronto. I'll admit, I panicked a little bit even though I had no reason to. I knew there was absolutely no way I had been in Toronto the night before but my still sleepy mind immediately came up with cover up stories even as I blurted out that I had NOT been in Toronto last night. My mother found my reaction funny, and after letting me squirm for a few more seconds let me know that my aunt had actually seen a billboard of me in Toronto advertising the University of Windsor.

In freaking Toronto! As in the capital city of our province. Can you say surreal? Before anyone freaks out, no your picture is not going to end up posted around random cities. I volunteered to pose for the University welcome week advertisements when I was asked to by the manager of the first year blog. So yeah, it was a little weird but also pretty cool... No one can say that my first year of University has not been memorable. Makes me wonder how my second year could ever compare. In all honesty, this first year of University has been the most challenging, most exciting, most fun and absolute best year of my life...but I'll leave all that mushy stuff for my last blog of the year. :D Until then, I still have a good chunk of the school year to survive...

Friday March 13, 2009

Sometimes Life is just Boring

This week went by very, very slowly, but I still feel as if I got nothing done. I have a lot of work to do, and because of that I haven't had much time to do anything exciting.

I have been going to the gym a couple times a week which I highly recommend. As a girl, it can be a little bit intimidating, so you may want to go with a friend. Seeing as the gym membership is part of your tuition anyway, you might as well get good use out of it, right? Once you get used to it, it has a great atmosphere, and if nothing else it will let you get away from your books for a couple of hours.

That's really all I have to say, sadly. Hopefully next week I'll have something more useful to talk about. :)

Tuesday March 17, 2009

Happy St. Patties Day!!

I just woke up, so I'm pretty much still feeling sleepy. Normally, it takes me an hour or two of waking up before I feel I can get something accomplished. It's taken me almost a full year to realize that this is a large amount of wasted time. One to two hours a day could allow me to critically read an extra hundred pages of one of my school books. One to two hours a day could allow me to write an extra thousand words of an essay. One to two hours a day could let me surf the net mindlessly and gain absolutely nothing from it except sore eyes. Wait...scratch that last one.

The point is, every hour that you are awake is time that should be spent towards something. It doesn't necessarily have to be school related, but if you're spending a couple hours on youtube re-watching your favourite videos (guilty as charged) then you're not spending your time wisely. I find eating and sleeping are also good activities in which you can spend your time.

As for me, writing this out has actually woken me up. I think I'll go have some breakfast and get started on the mountain load of work that piled up this Monday. Hurray for lack of procrastination!

Saturday March 21, 2009

Is it too early to start an end of the semester countdown?

Next week is going to be a busy one containing two midterms, an essay and group project. If I were to look at it all together I’m pretty sure I would become overwhelmed, so I’ve been looking at things in small pieces. On a completely unrelated note, I’ve pretty much wasted my entire day doing nothing. I worked for maybe four hours and the rest of the day went...somewhere. I really need to get back to the whole productive thing, but I think me not getting to bed until 1:30 AM may have hindered my productivity. It’s really difficult to get stuff done when your head feels like it’s stuffed with cotton.

Which leads to my advice for the day: SLEEP. It’s important. So do it.

As for me, I’m off to chug a can of coca-cola and hope the caffeine gives my brain a jumpstart. Fingers crossed...

Tuesday March 24, 2009

50th Blog Anniversary!

Remember that busy week I mentioned in my last post? Yeah, it's here now. Tomorrow I have a midterm and a group project, the day after I have another midterm, and Friday through Sunday I get to spend writing a history essay. Joy. Somewhere in there I also have to do a peer review and write my final paper for FAW. And then exams start.

On the bright side...um...well...it's not snowing anymore? Also, I did not get hit by a car today on Sunset, which is always a means for celebration. Seriously, that street is crazy; they need some sort of student cross walk, or just stop letting vehicles down that street at all. Someone is going to get hit one of these times...fingers crossed it's not me.

Saturday March 28, 2009

Countdown: 21 Days until SUMMER

I'm slowly making progress through my to do list. Exams are looming ever closer and I'm anxious to begin studying, but first I have two essays I need to tackle. I can hardly believe that in three weeks I will be finishing my first year of university. I don't know where the year went; it's all a big blur of friends and work and happiness and frustration.

But before I allow myself to slip into a sappy post, I should get back to work. No time for excitement in my life right now thanks to the piles of homework. Thankfully my family has been extremely understanding during this stressful time (all year long, actually), so they haven't been pressuring me to do anything around the house and just letting me work. My mom even just brought me some grapes so I don't starve. Aw, she's so sweet. :)