Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Weird looks from the librarian
I've always loved to read, and summer is the time I love the most because I have bountiful amounts of time to lay down and read a book cover to cover. I have a varied taste in books, I read a little bit of everything (except super fantasy stuff or science fiction, ain't nobody got time for that!) I recently decided (as in about 3:00 this afternoon) that I was going to dig a trench in my personal reading quest and read a bunch of classic novels by great authors. I'm talking Steinbeck. Dickens. Austen. The Bronte sisters. The whole shebang. Of course, to counteract these heavy classic novels, I also need some fun, young adult novels. I cannot explain why, but I have recently gotten hooked into a young adult series entitled "Private" by Kate Brian. Set in a posh New England academy type high school with rich girls, one scholarship student pushing her way to the top, and sex, booze, and rock and roll (okay, I was kidding about the rock and roll, but there is drug use, so in an indirect way I guess it could be rock and roll, but I digress), this book literally SCREAMS teeny bopper thirteen year old who is trying to pretend she is a lot older than she really is. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I have the first 6 books in less than a week, just like I'm ashamed to admit that I've read all the Gossip Girl novels and the Twilight novels multiple times. I mean, I am supposed to be a SMART girl who thrives for literature, and last time I checked, Stephanie Meyer or Gossip Girl were not on the lists of Great American novels, but again I digress. But whatever the circumstances are, I cannot stop reading these books. So today, I went to the library after getting home from babysitting to check out some new books since I had finished all the other ones I checked out late last week. I ran (figuratively) to check out the next 6 books in the Private series (just reading this is pathetic :P), perused the young adult section and found a few books, and then went for the classics. Let me tell you, I have never gotten a look as weird as I did today from the library when she saw my pile that contained 6 of those teeny bopper novels, East of Eden by Steinbeck, Oliver Twist by Dickens, Dr. Zhivago, and two pathetic young adult books.
Friday, May 24, 2013
First year of college
As of about 2:00 on Wednesday, I was done with my first year of college. It's scary how fast that year flew by, and what's even scarier is that I know the next three are going to fly by even faster. I had lots of good and bad experiences, but I feel like every freshman college student, and just college students in general are going to have those. I made some friends, lost some friends, made some new friends, lost some friends. I don't think the losing friends had anything to really do with the people necessarily, it was just that we all come from completely different lives. I ended up moving home about halfway through the second semester because my dorm room was just associated with stress. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't get anything done. I figured that I needed to move home the night I called my mom after I had been crying for 2 and 1/2 hours about my so called friends ignoring me and then trying to act like it was my fault. Things improved 100 times after I moved home. My appetite was back, I was getting sleep, and I got stuff done. Definitely one of the best decisions I made this year if not my whole life.
The academic side of things was a challenge, yet interesting at the same time. I managed to pull all A's my first semester for a 4.0. I was really stoked about that! This semester, I ended up with a B- in Chemistry, a B+ in Communications, A's in my music classes, and an unknown grade as of right now in my History class. People tell me I need to relax about getting B's but they seem to forget I had ONE B in 4 semesters of high school, and I have very high expectations for myself (aka A's) but my parents have still ensured me that they are proud of me even if I got those two B's so that is what really matters. The academics tended to be very stressful at times, and I didn't think I was even going to get B's I was struggling so badly. But, my faith was proven after receiving an A in a 300 level (think Junior status) Philosophy course 1st semester, and after receiving an email from my history professor this morning that told me I did a good job this semester (also in a 300 level course). I managed to get through all those days when I threatened Jerry Bertrand that I was going to go to the registrar's office and change my major to anything but music education. I always laugh because when I would threaten to do that, Jerry would just look at me and ask what I was going to change to, and I couldn't give him an answer because there isn't anything I really see myself doing for the rest of my life besides teaching music. I freaked out that I was going to fail my finals earlier this week, and even threw my studying materials across the room at one point, only to leave the test room feeling very confident in my performances. All these things have led me to the conclusion that I get too worked up about things that I shouldn't get worked up about. I know that I work really damn hard to get the grades I get, and it's evident that my professor's see that also. On a sidebar, if my mother is reading this right now, she is probably laughing, because she has been telling me my whole life that I worry too much about things that I shouldn't worry about or can't control, so, MOM, YOU WERE RIGHT.
College so far has taught me a lot about myself. I met people with lives that are extremely different than mine, both in seemingly better and worse ways (but mostly better). I wouldn't change my life for anything though because I can have the good feeling that I am not a spoiled brat who is used to getting whatever they want like SOME people I met at BVU. I know the value of hard work and I am willing to stress out, cry, throw notes, punch things, etc to make sure I pull good grades and do as well as I know I can!
Well, summer. It's so strange from going to having tons of homework and studying to having nothing to do. I've done some stuff around the house to help Mom out, and yesterday I did a major cleaning and organizing of my bedroom. We are redoing the spare bedroom this summer and turning it into a study den for me to use in the fall. I've got a babysitting job all next week, and hopefully one the next week for the rest of the summer. I'm playing in Muni Band, and in the pit orchestra for the musical in Cherokee. I plan on reading a lot, spending as much time outside as I can, crocheting a lot, playing my horn, and just enjoying time to do things that I love. I'm also on the Orientation team at school, so I get to help welcome the new class of freshman and get them excited to start their college careers at BVU.
So, I say deuces, freshman year of college. I learned a lot, I cried a lot, I ate a lot, I studied a lot (but mostly learned and ate) :). I cannot wait to see what next year has in store for me (you can probably bet notes will get thrown across the room on at least one occasion though) ;)
The academic side of things was a challenge, yet interesting at the same time. I managed to pull all A's my first semester for a 4.0. I was really stoked about that! This semester, I ended up with a B- in Chemistry, a B+ in Communications, A's in my music classes, and an unknown grade as of right now in my History class. People tell me I need to relax about getting B's but they seem to forget I had ONE B in 4 semesters of high school, and I have very high expectations for myself (aka A's) but my parents have still ensured me that they are proud of me even if I got those two B's so that is what really matters. The academics tended to be very stressful at times, and I didn't think I was even going to get B's I was struggling so badly. But, my faith was proven after receiving an A in a 300 level (think Junior status) Philosophy course 1st semester, and after receiving an email from my history professor this morning that told me I did a good job this semester (also in a 300 level course). I managed to get through all those days when I threatened Jerry Bertrand that I was going to go to the registrar's office and change my major to anything but music education. I always laugh because when I would threaten to do that, Jerry would just look at me and ask what I was going to change to, and I couldn't give him an answer because there isn't anything I really see myself doing for the rest of my life besides teaching music. I freaked out that I was going to fail my finals earlier this week, and even threw my studying materials across the room at one point, only to leave the test room feeling very confident in my performances. All these things have led me to the conclusion that I get too worked up about things that I shouldn't get worked up about. I know that I work really damn hard to get the grades I get, and it's evident that my professor's see that also. On a sidebar, if my mother is reading this right now, she is probably laughing, because she has been telling me my whole life that I worry too much about things that I shouldn't worry about or can't control, so, MOM, YOU WERE RIGHT.
College so far has taught me a lot about myself. I met people with lives that are extremely different than mine, both in seemingly better and worse ways (but mostly better). I wouldn't change my life for anything though because I can have the good feeling that I am not a spoiled brat who is used to getting whatever they want like SOME people I met at BVU. I know the value of hard work and I am willing to stress out, cry, throw notes, punch things, etc to make sure I pull good grades and do as well as I know I can!
Well, summer. It's so strange from going to having tons of homework and studying to having nothing to do. I've done some stuff around the house to help Mom out, and yesterday I did a major cleaning and organizing of my bedroom. We are redoing the spare bedroom this summer and turning it into a study den for me to use in the fall. I've got a babysitting job all next week, and hopefully one the next week for the rest of the summer. I'm playing in Muni Band, and in the pit orchestra for the musical in Cherokee. I plan on reading a lot, spending as much time outside as I can, crocheting a lot, playing my horn, and just enjoying time to do things that I love. I'm also on the Orientation team at school, so I get to help welcome the new class of freshman and get them excited to start their college careers at BVU.
So, I say deuces, freshman year of college. I learned a lot, I cried a lot, I ate a lot, I studied a lot (but mostly learned and ate) :). I cannot wait to see what next year has in store for me (you can probably bet notes will get thrown across the room on at least one occasion though) ;)
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