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Final grades were posted today. My grades were as follows:

Adolescent Literature - A

Microcomp./media in Classroom - A

Poetic Shades/Shadows - B

Read/Writing Clinical Practicum - A

Shakespeare - B

Literature of the African-American - B

GPA: 3.5

:D!

Finals...

May. 8th, 2012 11:03 pm
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...ARE OVER!!!!




And now...

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5 weeks.

5 loooooooong weeks. That's how long I have until my summer vacation. And believe me, I am counting down every minute. Come the end of that 5 weeks I'll be on my way to FL for some much needed relaxation on the beach. Plus I'll get to see [livejournal.com profile] starry_nights88 :D

In the meantime... this is my to-do list:

-8-10pg. paper on "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"
-5pg. paper for Shakespeare
-2 lesson plans for this week
-5 lesson plans for unit
-Discussion board posts
-ENG 433 stuff
-Grade homework for ENG 089
-Finals
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Would anyone be interested in reading a 8-10 pg. paper on Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women compared to Jane Eyre with an emphasis on Education?

I could really use a person to read it to give me an opinion of an outsider on it. It's 12 pt. font and double spaced... so technically it's 4 pgs.

I would be most appreciative!
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I just wanted to let those who are following my drabble posting that I won't be posting much in the next couple of weeks.

I have a major paper due for my British Literature II class on Apr. 25th. 8-10 pages (double spaced) on Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Right's of Women & Jane Eyre with an emphasis on education.

Sounds fun right?

Yeah... so much fun.

If I get this puppy done sooner I'll re-open my "Prompt Me" post and start taking drabble requests again sooner. But until then...

Wish me luck!
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Well... if I went by Yoda's way of looking at it... I guess I "do not". However, since my life isn't Star Wars, I did try. I HAVE tried.

So why is it parents, my mother in my case, believe that no matter what you haven't tried?

Today my mom and I spent the day trying (there's that word again) to complete various tasks. I'll keep this to just education related things, otherwise this entry would probably dominate your f-list. Come Jan. 19th I will be starting classes at K-State to complete my teaching degree. At the end of our visit, which was good and bad, I was making an appt to talk to someone and mom was in the main room on the phone. I overheard her telling the guy that she was on the phone with that my dad wanted to sue UC. For those who don't know, UC is where I attended to get my undergrad degree.

This was news to me. So on the way home I asked mom why my dad wanted to sue UC. Mom said because they lied to me and I was confused. Mom explained that the Education dept at UC did not tell me that I could take the ACT over until I got the score I needed to be admitted into teacher education. Now I was even more confused. I told her, "But they did. I knew that I could either get the score on the ACT or I could take the PRAXIS I and have those scores stand in. I took the ACT while at UC, I got an 18. I need a 21 or higher."

Mom always says that there's no use talking to me because I think I know it all and will defend everything to the death... which is true, when I'm right. Then she said, "The point is, you should have never left UC after 5 years with anything less than 30 Education credits."

I just took a deep breath and said, "Okay mom." I'm not going to fight with her over this. I think I know it all and will defend something to the death, one guess as to where I get that from.

Ding ding ding! If you guessed my mom, you're right. She is the exact same way.

But what she said hurt. She's implying once again, that while at UC I didn't try. I DID try.

UC's Education program is said to be one of the top in the country. Having taken the majority of the classes I have to disagree but that's another story. The Education program ACT requirements are outlined in the course catalog as the following:

Present an official ACT composite score of 21 or an SAT composite score of at least 990 or a PPST score of
Reading 173, Writing 172, Math 173.
NOTE: Students must have passed the ACT, SAT or PPST as specified above before taking any 300+ level
professional education courses, as well as, to be admitted to the Teacher Education Program.

The PPST is the PRAXIS I.

Now, that said, while at UC I took courses related to Secondary Education because I don't have the patience to teach little kids. The classes required for Secondary Education are as follows:

SECONDARY EDUCATION
The Department of Education in cooperation with other departments offers courses leading to certification to teach in grades 8-12. Individual programs should be planned in partnership with the student’s major advisor and education advisor. The professional education courses which are required include:
BMIS 130 Introduction to Application Software
EDUC 235 Basic Concepts Concerning Education
PSYC 232 Psychology of Human Development
PSYC 238 Psychology of Learning and Exceptionality
SPED 233 Survey of Individuals with Exceptionalities (P-12)
EDUC 237 Effective Teaching Practices- (8-12)
EDUC 331 Studies in Education: Special Topics
EDUC 432 Fundamentals of Secondary Education (Prerequisite: Formal admission to Teacher Education.)
EDUC 492 Supervised Student Teaching: Secondary Education

Let me point something out again.

NOTE: Students must have passed the ACT, SAT or PPST as specified above before taking any 300+ level
professional education courses, as well as, to be admitted to the Teacher Education Program.


I took every Education class up to the EDUC 237 point. I had to stop there. Why? BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE THE TEST SCORE REQUIREMENT. At UC there is no way around that.

Also, all those classes (With the exception of Student Teaching) are worth 3 credit hours. Student Teaching is worth 12 credit hours. That means that the Secondary Education degree is 24 credit hours (add the Student Teaching and it's 36).

Now, remember the note. So take off the two classes I couldn't take due to not meeting the requirement. That's 18 credit hours AND I took ALL of them.

For Secondary Education you also have to take classes in an area of discipline. My discipline was Art and English. I completed BOTH of these because none of those classes require a test score.

Unless one of you can point out something I'm missing, I TRIED. I did everything I could while at UC.

So why is it my mother can still drive me to the point of wanting to commit homicide?

Finally!

Dec. 27th, 2010 01:06 pm
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After taking it about 5 times, spending who knows how much money, I have done it!

I made a 22 on the ACT!!!!

For admission into Teacher Education I need a 21 or higher.

I DID IT!!!!

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I'm counting down the hours til I move back into school. Less than 48 now!

This year is going to be great...at least I hope so... I'm living in the same dorm only in the basement. The basement of my dorm has been redone so it's nice, I'm really excited.

Sadly one of my best friends called me last night and she was supposed to be in my suite but she was offered an RA position and it was just to good an opportunity to pass up. I will miss her, even though I'll still get to see her, she just won't be in my suite or dorm. It was kinda funny when she found out because she was really torn. I mean, I moved with her last year when she begged me to and she can't forget that. When her mom saw how upset she was she said, "Oh hunny, Olivia will be fine, she'll understand." I found that hilarious. Then her mom said, "Look at it this way, you'll be closer to Jeremy (my friend's boyfriend)." And my friend said, "That doesn't even matter! This is Olivia!" I'm really flattered that she thinks so highly of me.

But maybe with her not being there my roommate can move into the empty room and then she, myself and Linda can all have our own rooms. That would be awesome.

My classes this semester:
Painting II - Oil Painting
Art in the Secondary School
General Biology
Am Lit through 1865
Health & Wellness

I'm going to try and add another class when I get on campus but I'm not sure what that will be yet. Maybe another art class.

What effect will the semester starting have on my writing? Well... that depends on my classes. Sometimes I'm inspired to write in the easier one's (prolly be Health & Wellness) but sometimes I'm to busy. I will try to update as often as possible.

-dances- I'm so excited!

Freedom!

May. 6th, 2009 10:32 pm
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Freedom never tasted so sweet. I finished my last final today and it is just... such a good feeling to be done for another year.

I'm very sleepy so I'm looking forward to catching up on my sleep.

Mom & Dad will be coming to move me out on Friday so I have to start packing tomorrow.

=OOO My art professor LOVED my final sculpture made of can tabs. Then... he broke it. >.> Honestly it wasn't all that sturdy, it was just held together with hot glue, but it was fine until he picked it up to see how it would look if you hung it on the wall. It would look cool but that's when it started to break and the rest just followed after class. At least I got my grade before it did that!

I'll know my final grades either this weekend or next week. I'm hoping I passed Spanish with a C. I really don't want to retake that class.

Now... I'm gonna stay up to see if Laura comes in and wants me to go through her clothes with her for another hour or so but then I'm sleeping.
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I should have known it wasn't going to be a good day when I woke up, checked my alarm only to see that I had another hour to sleep and when I turned back over I was immediately brought awake by the sounds of hammers banging on the roof of my dorm. I laid there for the majority of that hour I didn't have to be up just listening to the hammers and being annoyed. It wasn't even dawn yet!

I got up, got ready, went to breakfast... sadly breakfast was not that good. I went to study in what is usually a quiet place only to find it in utter chaos because of room reservations. So I went to the classroom my Spanish class is in to finish studying. Funny... I didn't know people in Mexico said things were "finger licking good" but according to my Spanish book they do. My profesora said this wasn't right because it would be considered bad manners.

Then she picks on me! >.< Normally I don't mind but I was trying my hardest at something I already don't understand (verbs in the past perfect). What really gets my goat is that I gave her the right answer but I don't know if I didn't say it loud enough or if she just misunderstood me but she said I was wrong so I'm sitting there trying to figure it out, with the whole class staring at me, and every time I try something new I'm wrong... I'm running out of options! So finally I give her the right answer again and she says I'm right. I sighed and she said, "Don't be so bully"... which I think relates to pouting. The moment she dismissed us I left the class and went to the bathroom to dry my eyes. I hate being put on the spot and being told I'm wrong when I'm actually right.

And to top off an even *better* morning one of my best friend's is waiting outside to tell me that she's leaving school Saturday. Fucking-hooray. T_T

I hope Mrs. Allen won't be mad at me but I just couldn't sit in her 2.5 hour class today with everything that had happened. So I skipped to come to the library instead. -hugs the wall- Thank you for putting me at peace library.

The space!

Feb. 10th, 2009 10:38 pm
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Ahhhh, it feels so GOOD to have my own room at college. I wish there were no stairs but I'll do the stairs since it means my own room.

YAAAAAY!
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This morning after my first class it felt like everything in my life, at least school wise, was about ready to crash and burn. I'll go into more detail later but after my class I sat for 30 minutes convincing myself that I was not going to cry.

Part of me wished for someone to talk to, just to be able to rant... whatever. But the other part I just wanted to be left alone. I hate crying in front of others, hate burdening people with my own (seemingly unimportant) concerns. If someone had sat down with me and asked how I was I know that would have been the outcome.

Thank you to Luke who told me I looked pretty today. He started to turn my day around.

Spanish was great, it always is. Senora just has that spark about her that makes everything interesting and fun.

And then there's American Lit. Normally I don't look forward to this class. According to my prof if I want to be a truly successful writer I have to become one of the following; gay, an alcoholic, crazy or a combination of the three (I'll be uber popular then).

But today we were talking about Langston Hughes... probably the only poet I enjoy more than Emily Dickinson. My prof has a habit of making me hate the people we talk about... today really wasn't all that different but I don't think that even he can stop my love for Langston Hughes.

I'm just curious but did anyone else know that Led Zepllian (sp) is considered Blues, at least in my prof's book. Cause... I didn't.

Also, Elvis was a major Blues singer. Hmm... "King of Rock N' Roll" anyone?

My prof also gave our papers back. I chose to do my first paper on Mark Twain, whom I enjoy. I got an A! Yes, this is the light at the end of my tunnel for today. My prof did make a mistake by correcting a quote although it's not how you would originally think.

"There are several kinds of stories, but only one difficult kind - the humorous. I will talk mainly about that one. The humorous story is American, the comic story is English, the witty story is French. The humorous story depends for its effect upon the manner of the telling; the comic story and the witty story upon the matter." -Mark Twain

At the point of "I will talk mainly about that one" my prof did the following... (I will talk main about that one) - Avoid... just go into your analysis. My prof corrected Mark Twain! I don't think he realized that he was still in the quote... -_-;; This quote was from Twain's piece entitled "How to Tell a Story" and yet my prof told me that I should have used a quote from one of his work's...

Oh well I got an A and it made my day.

I will now work on my Comp Imaging piece inspired by Langston Hughes' poem "I, Too, Sing America".
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I don't often say this but right now COLLEGE SUCKS.

It would seem that everyone an hour north of me is out of school because of snow and ice.

What do we get? Rain. Lots and lots of RAIN. >.>

I want a college snow/ice day!

To bad my college would rather us kill ourselves trying to get to class only to find out that the professor couldn't make it in and class is canceled. Honestly I think it's been over 20 years since my college has canceled classes for snow/ice.

I wanna build a snowman T_T
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"I'm not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a PART of hell will break loose... it'll be much harder to detect." - George Carlin

You always know that it’s going to be a good entry when I start off by saying that I hate someone right? Right. Well I HATE my education advisor Mrs. Patrick. This woman treats me like I’m a complete and utter idiot. I may not have any interest in teaching and the only reason I’m getting my teaching degree is so I can be a librarian in a high school system but I am not an idiot when it comes to school. Sure, there are some subjects I don’t get… like math, bleh. But when it comes to planning what classes I have to take and when, I know what I’m doing. I know that to take this class “Studies in Education” that I have to either have a 21 on the ACT or pass the 3 sections of the Praxis I. As such when I ask, “Do I need ‘Studies in Education’ to take ‘Intro to Effective Teaching’?” I am looking for a simple yes or no answer, at least I think it’s a simple question to answer but nooooooo, I get “As I have explained before you need a 21 or higher to take ‘Studies in Education’.” Is it just me or does that not answer my question in the slightest? This isn’t the first time this woman hasn’t answered a question of mine and what really gets me is her tone. You know how you can just hear a person’s tone even through writing? Well her’s is completely condescending and no I do not appreciate it when I am being as respectful as possible because that is the way I was raised. Not only that but she doesn’t know me in the slightest! She has been my Education advisor for three years and she still doesn’t know that I’m an Art Education major and English minor. Sure I have switched them back and forth a couple of times but I have never added anything else but the Education part. When I go to her at the end of last semester for her to approve my classes she takes one look at the copy that my Art advisor (whom I l-o-v-e) and I had put together and then looks at me and in one of the most stuck up tones I have ever heard asks, “Why are you taking all these Art classes? Why are you taking all these English classes?” I really wanted to smack her but instead I just looked back at her and said, “Maybe because I’m an Art Education major and English minor?” >.< I mean really! Okay… that’s out of my system… for now.

I love Karen. She was my RA last year in Asher and I was very sad to hear that she had been moved to Gillespie this year but the good thing is that we had one class together last semester and three together this semester. Last semester we took one Saturday and had an LOTR marathon. So. Much. Fun. Yes, we are complete Tolkienites and yes I totally laid on her bottom bunk while she was on the top and sent her LOTR facts on Facebook while we were watching it. I will miss her so much when she graduates this spring.

You know… there’s a point in everyone’s life it seems where they lose that thing that makes them innocent. No, I’m not talking about virginity. I think this innocence is lost when the person stops believing in Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and other such figures that bring us such joy when we are younger. Well I am going to type it out right here and now. I still believe in Santa Clause and at this point in my life I think I always will. Whether or not Santa Clause is a real person who rides around in a sleigh one night a year is not the real question because maybe there is, maybe there isn’t. It is however the thought. A single person that donates a gift to a child in need could be considered Santa Clause in my book.

If anyone reads my fanfics on here you might have noticed that I’ve joined a new fandom. I’ve been a fan of Blood Ties since I saw a few episodes of the show on Lifetime and even more so once I read the books. I haven’t written much for it yet but I hope to delve much deeper into once I find the time.

Thanksgiving break was a much needed break. I was really beginning to miss my family… like hardcore. This past semester was the worst for homesickness that I’ve had since I went off to college. I went home nearly each weekend between fall break and Thanksgiving break aside from two I think. I was so glad to be home. The one bad thing about this break was the homework. It’s just wrong when professor’s assign homework over a break. I don’t think professors understand the meaning of the word, “Break”. Oh well… I think I got it all done.

My cousin who is six months younger than me is now married. She didn’t tell anyone, not even her parents until they had already said “I do”. Eric is almost 20 years older than her (although he looks 29) and is in the Secret Service. I know, how lucky. He’s a really nice guy; the family met him over Thanksgiving break. He’s completely crazy about my cousin from what I can tell and I’m really happy for her. At my gran’s for our Thanksgiving dinner Kaylee (my cousin in guess you didn’t guess) was being very secretive. She had this small piece of paper that was rolled up tightly and after the meal she started passing it around to a select few. Ultrasound pics… yup Kaylee is pregnant. This time next year she will have a baby of her own. It’s really hard to believe. No, I don’t think that’s the reason they got married without saying anything to anyone. I think that she was already pregnant but didn’t know it when she said those words.

This year I attended my very first anime convention. It was a very small one; this was its first year. Kajonk-A-Con was so much fun! My friends Lexi and Whitney went with me, they played a new role playing game for the majority of the time that we were there. The best part about KAC was that I got to meet my online friend Frobsy. We weren’t shy at all either, that was what made it so great. We were talking on our cells while she was in the elevator and once the doors opened we hung up and ran at each other. It was a total tackle/glomp. ^_^ We had to leave soon after that, which was very sad, but was snowing and the road to get back to school can be very treacherous when it snows so we didn’t want to take any chances. Frobsy and I are trying to work it out so she can come stay a weekend with me at school. It’ll be so much fun if we can work it out.

I think I mentioned… or ranted… about Dr. Eskay in my last entry. Well he decided that he was first going to give us our final on the Thursday before finals week but we still had to come in on the Thursday of finals week to turn in our notebook. The second he said that we all looked at each other and said, “No” as a class. Other than his final I was done on Tuesday and if all I had to stay for was to turn in a stupid notebook… SCREW THAT. After nearly a full class period we convinced him that it was just better to have everything due the Thursday that he wanted us to take our final. He agreed –finally- but then the next class… we had to discuss it again, all because the MWF class would only have an hour to take the final and we had 30 minutes more being the TTH class. We agreed to take it in one hour and that settled that but we still had to discuss everything. The Tuesday before our final he had totally forgotten that we were supposed to have our final the next class meeting and we had to remind him. Another thing was the way he did our study guide this time. At midterm we went over our study guide and he told us the correct answers but for the final study guide he refused because “this wasn’t high school”. Instead he wanted to do the process of elimination, which is all fine and dandy IF you tell what the right answer is at the end but nooooo. He would read the question someone would answer, if they got it right he would say “Proceed”, if not then he would say, “Alright, process of elimination, take away A… take away D.” Someone would then choose between B & C but he would not tell us which was right but we’d proceed anyway. I did not study for this final. There’s no point in studying the wrong answers.

Lexi and I got away from the college campus for a night. We went to Huddle House and stayed for nearly 3 hours just talking and laughing. When we got ready to leave the manager asked us if we had noticed the angel’s on the door at the back. We hadn’t so he took us to the door and told us about the various angel’s then actually took us into the back of Huddle House and showed us all the things they had collected thus far, nearly $4000 worth of stuff! Lexi and I agreed to split an angel for a 14 year old girl. We went out and bought her three shirts, two pairs of jeans, some socks and a whole slew of books. We totally made her a rocker. XD

My finals this past semester were pretty easy. I think my Drawing final was my best. Mr. Weedman told us that we could draw anything we wanted, using any medium, as long as it represented something important to us. I played with the idea of drawing my parents but then I realized that I wouldn’t be home long enough to draw them and I don’t think I could get them to sit still long enough. After that my mom suggested that I draw books since I love them but I couldn’t really figure what to do with them. After my family and books my friends are the most important things to me so I decided to draw something that represented our suite. Here is the final product:


Also for your viewing pleasure (hopefully), here is my final figure drawing from class. I wanted to use different colors, one’s that stood out from each other nicely and this is how it turned out:


Christmas break was great. Lexi and I were able to leave on Tuesday afternoon; I was going to take her to the airport in Lexington the next day so she could go home to Arizona. It was great to be home and know that I didn’t have to go back to school until January. Lexi and I got lost on the way to the airport but since I didn’t know where I was going I had allowed about an hour extra just in case. After I got her to the airport I waited to make sure they were going to let her on the plane then I headed back to Frankfort to see one of my fave people at the place where I had worked two summers ago. She retired Dec. 31st; if I ever get to go back there I will miss her muchly.

Over break I got my PPST scores. I dunno if I mentioned it last time or not but I had to make a 172, 173 and 173 on the sections of Reading, Writing & Math to take certain Education classes. I received a 178 in Reading, a 168 in Writing and a 166 in Math. I was sad that I didn’t pass the other two sections but I was also pleased by how well I had done. The good thing about the PPST is that I don’t have to take each section over, once I pass a section I only have to take the one’s I didn’t pass again.

Another thing I did over break that I do every year is stand in my town’s Living Nativity. It was very cold and my cheeks got wind burn but I always feel so good after doing it. If I have anything to say about it I will stand every year unless I’m sick.

End note: Final grades; B, B, B, C, E. The E was in Convo but I got 96 hours so I'm not required to take it anymore! Boo-ya!
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Soooooo…. In my last actual journal entry I had been out of school for a week and now I have been back in school for a week. XD

I had hoped this semester would be fairly easy and a good way to bring up my GPA but one class may keep that from happening. The following are the classes I’m taking this semester. Bonus points for you if you can guess which class I’m talking about (hint: it’s the one with the longest name).

Organismal Biology
Spanish I
Psychology of Human Development
Survey of Individuals with Exceptionalities
Drawing II

Okay, okay… maybe I should start waaaaaay back at the beginning of the summer. Yup, let’s test my memory and see if I can remember all the way back to the beginning of summer… course, how will you know if I don’t? XP Just don’t ask for organization in this entry, I just wrote as I thought of this stuff.

It took us a week but we got Mrs. B all packed up. The library, or what used to be the library, was now so horribly bare. So many fond memories are now only remembered in our minds -sad-. One of the students helping us did such an awful job packing boxes. She just threw them in! I told Mrs. B and she checked one of the boxes that wasn’t closed yet and she was appalled. She quickly gave the girl another task to keep her from packing anymore books.

Once we had finished the books I was put in charge of cleaning out cabinets in the back and packing up the movies. Mrs. B let me borrow Brigadoon when I found it on the shelf. –squee- I want eet! Mrs. B said I could have it and one of the old school projectors’s if they ever decided to replace them. I love her!

So I had said working in the public library was my dream job. It was a lot of fun sure but overall I now know why I want to be a high school library. I’d rather deal with kids and teachers than deal with everyday people. How sad is that? However, Joe (the main boss), said that I was welcome to come back and work over breaks which is really cool of him plus a little itty bit of bonus cash for me.

I had a lot of fun helping Suzanne with the summer reading program. The little kids were so cute and excited at the end when they got their prizes, well those that won prizes from the drawings. The teens were a lot of fun too… when they showed up XD.

Towards the beginning of the summer I took my cousin Emily to see a movie. I let her pick the movie; she picked Wall E. Oh my goodness! Wall E is one of Pixar’s BEST movies ever! The story was super sweet and funny but also had an underlying seriousness that could not be ignored. Emily, who’s ten, picked up on it and she exclaimed “why are the people so lazy?!” I just smiled and told her, “If we don’t change our direction that’s where we’re headed.” Everyone should watch Wall E, I highly recommend it.

Well I had about 26 books on my Summer Reading List… I read about 8 of them. I was much busier than I had anticipated and just didn’t have the time to read all I wanted. I didn’t read All Quiet on the Western Front because I just couldn’t get into it. I will have reviews of the books I did read, including some I hadn’t planned on, in a later entry.

This year was the second year I have been away from home over the 4th of July. The first time I was at my uncle’s in St. Louis and this time we were in Florida. Watching the fireworks on the beach and bay was truly amazing. We went up on the roof and there were fireworks all around us! My friend Kelly got to come with us, which was really exciting. We had a lot of fun and it was great to really spend some time with her again. We got into one major fight the night before we came home but the next morning everything was okay.

Twilight by Stephanie Myer was published in 2006, I own a copy of this book, but I have not yet read it. I bought my copy before all the hype started and since all the hype I have been kinda turned off. I’m a big fan of vampire novels. Anne Rice, Tanya Huff, P.N. Elrod & Mark A. Roeder = pure love when it comes to vampire novels. I’m a big fan of vampire novels; however, I am NOT a big fan of my vampire terminology being played with. Vampires are not supposed to fucking sparkle/glitter in sunlight! Not only that but Edward is 300, he’s a baby in vampire years! A BABY!

Someone I was talking to about it once told me that Twilight is one of the top selling books of all time. As a future librarian I know this to be untrue. I’m sure they prolly meant that it is one of the best selling book of the year or perhaps that it is one of the best selling series, but it is not one of the best selling books or series of all time. The entire series has sold 50 million copies around the world and over 7.7 million in the U.S. The 50 million standing puts all 4 books in the same league as The Catcher in the Rye (65 million) and Black Beauty (50 million), both of which are single books. The 7.7 million puts it below The Outsiders (13 million) and The Cat in the Hat (10 million). As far as series go, the U.S. standings of 7.7 million put it far below Harry Potter’s 400 million. Actually the closest standing to Twilight is Der Regenbogenfisch (Rainbow Fish) by Marcus Pfister at 15 million copies.

Let me make myself perfectly clear RIGHT NOW. I am NOT looking for an argument with anyone on whether or not the books are any good, etc. I merely had to straighten out some facts that were urking the librarian in me. I will get around the reading the books and forming my own opinion about them but they are not in my top priorities right now.

Alrighty then, moving on. I think that for my 21st birthday my mom was expecting me to ask for a long weekend trip to New York City, which I have always wanted to go to and still do. However, she was surprised that when she asked I said that I wanted to go horseback riding. I looooove horses more than just about any animal, except for wolves. I love going horseback riding, especially since I don’t get to do it very often. So a couple of weekends before I had to move back into school my mom, dad, my friend Hallie and I all went to Carter Caves.

The night before we went horseback riding, and by “we” I mean Hallie and I as my parents refuse to go, the four of us played and wacked out version of the card game Screw Your Buddy. It was so much fun, defiantly the best part of the entire weekend. The next day Hallie and I went on a guided trail ride. It was a lot of fun except for the fact that Hallie’s saddle was loose and it practically came off and she fell. Poor Hal’s was all bruised up and sore that night and the next day… and I’m sure a few days after. We had planned to go canoeing and do a cave tour but with Hallie being so sore and thinking of my parents who have back and knee problems, but were still going to do it if I had wanted to… I said that I didn’t because I didn’t want them to be in any more pain than they already had. I hope to get to go back sometime and do those things we missed out on.

I moved back into school on Aug. 24th. It was a week later than I expected but I was/am so glad to be back at school. I missed all these people so much! The week after moving in I celebrated my 21st b-day by… going to class. Yay me. Luckily Mr. Weedman let us out of our two and a half hour drawing class almost an hour early. He usually doesn’t let us out early, even if it is the first day.

I’m back in Suite 18 with Katie and Laura. There are three other girls, one of which I had had class with and the other two I had never met. So far we are getting along fairly well. We’ll see what I have to say about that at the end of this semester :P.

Mom drove down on Thursday, even though she was SUPER busy, to have supper with me and a few of my friends. We went to Shiloh’s in London, which has some of the most awesome steak EVER. I was so glad mom came down, it really warmed my heart.

The next day I went home and started helping my mom get ready for the big party she was throwing for my b-day. We were so busy getting stuff ready… and my gran was having Emily’s b-day on Saturday, it was just a lot. But overall it was fun. We had a hayride! I know, total country, but it was soooo much fun.

So one of my professor’s annoy me, and another professor that I don’t have annoys me (yeah I know, how is that possible huh?) First of all, the professor I have, has assigned us two articles reviews, both due this Thursday. I know they are supposed to be in the APA style but that’s about all I know. I asked him if I could find some articles that had to do with Emotional/Behavior Disorders that had to do with grief, he said I could. One of the limitations of our reviews is that the articles are supposed to be published in 2006-recently but only one of the articles I could find was published in 2008. The other articles were all published between 2003-2005. I emailed him to asked if that was okay, if he had any time where I could come to his office and go over them… but guess what? He had time to email the ENTIRE class the slide notes and review questions but he did not have time to reply to my email.

The professor that I don’t have is one that has helped me before try to bring up my ACT score for some of my education classes. My score didn’t come up so now I have to take a test called the PPST, also known as the Praxis, who’s score can stand in for my ACT score. The previously mentioned professor also helps with the PPST so I emailed her asking for a web link where I could sign up for it. She emails me back and tells me to call her cell and she will give me the web link. Hold up, wait a minute, call her? Call here? WHY could she not just include the web link in the email? Would that not have been easier? GRRRR! Professors annoy me!

Now, as far as the presidential election goes… I hate both candidates. Plain and simple. I’ll vote but I guess it’ll have to be for the one I hate less, which will be Obama.

My college now has an official anime club. I’m so excited! We’re gonna meet every other Monday to watch anime movies and perhaps a episode of a series just to broaden our horizon’s. This coming Monday we’re watching Howl’s Moving Castle. I hope people show up.

-Takes a breath- Well almost 4 months since my last true journal update I hit ya’ll with this whopper. It’s 1:10am now and I have to be up at 7 but Nikki is in the shower and I still need to take one. -sigh- I’m supposed to be the only one up now.

And this concludes this journal entry! -curtain closes-
elvenavari: (Default)
"Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading." - G. M. Trevelyan

Well I think it's about time for a journal entry.

I've been out of school for a week now. My parents came down and moved me home last Friday. Let me tell you, I have never been so happy for a school year to end. Sure I was tired at Christmas break but at the beginning of my summer break I was just sick of my classes.

Final Grades
School Art - A
Psych of Learning & Exceptionalities - C
Creative Writing: Poetry - C
Descriptive Linguistics - D
Intro to Political Science - D

Overall I'm pleased. I was hoping for a C in Poli Sci but I'll settle for a D. At least I don't have to retake it like I do Linguistics -gag-. I'm uberly pleased that I pissed off my Poetry prof with my final paper. I'll have to scan it and post links to the pics to share it on here once I get a new laptop.

Oh that's right! I'm getting a new laptop this summer. My mom spent $243 to have it fixed after it gave me the BSOD but now I can't even get it to charge. She's tired of spending money on it so we're just getting a new one. I found the one I want and it's soooo pretty. It's blue :D

Take a look!: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8771279&st=laptop&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1203815723334

For the past week I have been helping my past librarian at my old high school by packing up all her books and things because my high school is under construction and next year there will not be a library. It's such a horrible tragedy. D: But once the new library is built it should be amazing. I can't wait. The school board says it should be ready by January... but Mrs. B doesn't think so. I just know I will be there to help her once she has a new library.

I found a summer job and it's my dream job. I'll be working at my public library helping with the summer reading program. This puts me in a great position to come by all the books on my summer reading list.

Speaking of my summer reading list... it can be found behind the cut! They are numbered in the order that I am going to read them. Before I can start my summer reading I have to finish Blood Bank by Tanya Huff, it's a collection of short stories to go along with her "Blood Books" series. Excellent read for anyone who likes vampires and a bit of mystery.

Summer 2008 Reading List )

This is by nooooo means my reading this. My reading list has at least 20 more books on it. I'm gonna wear my eyes out! But at least it will be done doing something I love ^_^.
elvenavari: (Default)
Once upon a time there was a girl named Olivia. For longest time Olivia was lost in what she wanted to do with her life. Near the end of her 11th grade year in high school she decided that she loved books and encouraging others to read she wished to be a librarian.

Her journey would not be an easy one however. Olivia tried to get a job at her local library during the summer months starting at the age they would hire kids, 16. The local library never once hired her so she was forced to take a job she hated. The position and location of the job stressed Olivia out so badly that it started to create a strain on the relationship she had with her parents. Olivia sought refuge from this stress at her best friend and soul sister's house, April. Olivia started spending so much time at April's her mother threatened to kick her out of the house. Her mother said that if she wanted to spend so much time at April's she could live there.

This part of the story has a happy ending, Olivia made peace with her mother and cut back on the time she spent at April's a bit. Olivia returned to college in the fall and worked hard towards achieving her dream of being a librarian. To gain experience Olivia held a federal work study job in the library on her campus. She enjoyed this job more than anything offered on her campus, except for maybe her Death & Dying class.

The following year (this year) was not as easy for Olivia. During the fall semester she piled 19 hours onto her plate trying to play catch up for classes she had dropped. The classes and their requirements added more stress into the mix of her school, social and personal life. Sleep became a valued commodity that was caught up on on Friday afternoon's. By the end of the semester she was tired of school, tired of being unhappy with the way things were going. She was sacrificing everything she was to make others happy it seemed. She was majoring in a subject only because she needed the background to get her Master's in Library Science. She wanted to give up.

Over Christimas break she rested and felt ready to take on school again although she did not really care about returning. This semester she had fewer hours but was still horribly unhappy. Olivia's English classes were not going well and as classes for her major that was not good. She tries everything she think will help but in the end comes to the conclusion that English is not for her. If she can barely understand the majority of the rules, how could she ever teach them?

Olivia began considering changing her major to Art Education, art was a subject she was fairly good at and understood. She was minoring in it and would have that completed this semester. Researching the Art Education program proved to be discouraging at first. The major listed in the book required 57 hours. To complete this she would have to take all the Art classes offered. There was no way she could do this and graduate even remotely on time. She couldn't stay in college forever, her parents couldn't afford it. As a last resort she talked to her minor advisor who finally shown some hope on the whole situation.

"It has been proposed to reduce the number of hours the Art Education program would need from 57 to 39. The 57 was to many for any student to complete," her advisor explained. Olivia didn't dare hope yet... would the proposel be accepted? "It's looking very good," her advisor assured her. With that assurance Olivia officially changed her major to Art Education with a minor in English. She had never left better about her life at that moment. Now things seemed to be going in the right direction. FINALLY!

Alas, with all good things must come the bad. Over spring break Olivia had planned to see all her friends, catch up with them and replinish her spirits. Only two of her friends came through and she was more hurt by the others than those two could heal. One of the disappointing friends called Olivia a few days later and had a responsible and legit excuse, Olivia forgave her. But it was the other than still weighed heavily on her soul.

For five years she had been Olivia's best friend, the one she told everything to, the one she knew she could count on and the same was returned vice versa. They were soul sisters. And then this happened. Olivia waited for an hour and fifteen minutes, much longer than she should have, for her to get home. No call, no text message, nothing. For four days she was allowed to be pissed off until she received a message from her on Myspace. She was sorry, they had a lot of places to go after work, they would be home all day tomorrow. This message only served to piss Olivia off further. Here they had been trading text messages before they had not shown up and yet they couldn't send one to let her know where they were or when they would be home? Bullshit. It wasn't like she could come now anyway, Olivia's break was over and she was back at school.

Can a friendship that was as strong as all that survive an event that hurt that much? I guess we'll find out.

This story is nowhere near finished but perhaps it is time to put it on the shelf and let it collect dust.
elvenavari: (Default)
The best thing to happen in my life (thus far) was made official yesterday.

I changed my major from English Education to Art Education.

Now I will get my teaching degree in Art, a subject that I enjoy and understand for the most part rather than a subject I like but rarely understand. I'm still getting a minor in English, track 2 with an emphsis on writing ^_^

The Art Education major is getting ready to go through some changes, if the proposed amount of hours are accepted the major will be 39 hours. (YES!)

My second major, Education with an emphsis on Secondary, is still 42 (?) hours... maybe a few more.

The English minor is 24 but those are easily completed.

I might actually graduate slightly on time now! Time for a happy hug... or something!


elvenavari: (Default)
This is an overdue entry but a needed one.

Once upon a time... back at the beginning of this semester I thought my classes were going to be rock'n but as of midterm I had an A, two C's & two F's. I can easily say neither I nor my parents were pleased. However, unlike my parents I set my sights on improving my grades instead of dwelling and worrying over the fact I was failing.

It's not that I don't like my classes, I love each of them in their own right. I couldn't say that about Poetry a few weeks ago but we started on a new set of poems by Nickole Brown and it has gotten much better. The poems are at times gruesome but amazingly written.

I have been doing a lot of writing, as you can tell if you look back at my most recent enteries on here. Tin Man has claimed part of my life but not so much that it rules me. I would like to think that I am putting the things I learn in my Descriptive Linguistics class to good use... even if I can't seem to use it in class >.<

I can do all the things we are learning... I just can't explan them. I dun get it! Somehow I am missing the link between the two.

Another tragedy has happened, well at least it's a tragedy in my mind, my laptop gave me the blue screen of death. I am taking it to the place I always have stuff done to it tomorrow on my way home for spring break. I hope they will be able to fix it without losing my docs... but if they can't I hope they can at least get it past the BSOD I can burn all my important stuff to CD before they have to wipe the hard drive clean.

I GOT MY TIN MAN DVD TODAY! -scream- Okay... maybe it rules a bit more of my life than I thought ^^;

Now it's time for spring break!

Things to do over Spring Break
-See if I can get my summer job back
-Write that slashy piece about Zell and Leo
-Write 3-5 poems
-Write at least part of my 10 page poetry paper
-Write my 3-4 page "Spoken" paper for D.L.
-Brainstorm for 4th papar for D.L.
-Write next chapter of HBM
-Write last part of the "So Close" arc
-Catch up on D.L. assignments

Anything else...? -Ponders- I bet I'm missing *something* I just don't know what.
elvenavari: (Default)
Well it is only three days til finals and let me say that it has been a hellish two weeks leading up to it. I had an 8-10 page paper due last Friday for World Religions on the Rituals of Wicca. I finished it at 2:45 am on Friday morning. Well technically at 12:52 pm, that was when I finished putting the footnotes and page numbers on, my class is at 1pm. ^_^;; If you want to read it follow the cut.

Rituals )

After that I had a 8-10 page paper due this past Monday for Ancient to Gothic Art History. This one was on Stonehenge, Mr. Weedman told me to focus on who did it and why so I tried to. I finished this one at 1:45am Monday morning. Follow the cut to that one.

Stonehenge )

But that's not all! This past Tuesday I had my last speech for Intro to Public Speaking due! I finished it Tuesday morning at 12:30am. One more time... follow the cut to read.

Speech )

Alright well I'm done now. I'm lucky and have only one final a day next week. Two are in the morning and two are in the afternoon. I'm finished with this semester on Thursday around 3pm.

I'll probably have a better update that has less to do with school in a couple of days.

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