...and we've found a match!

The rumors are true, I'm back in school... and damn, I'm in love! Just working on prereqs right now (for the Master's program in Speech-Language Pathology) but I can't wait to get further into it!

If you're curious, I'm taking:

Intro to Communication Disorders

Musical Acoustic (applied Physics)

Anatomy & Physiology of Human Communication

English Phonetics

...plan on applying in February 2011 and graduating May 2013(!!!)

yay!

Just finished my LAST undergrad class!!!

...just sayin'...

Update

PAST

Amy & Travis got married on the 8th.
Went to Amarillo w/Traci the 15th-17th.
I purchased a Macbook (finally) and an iTouch last Friday.
Templer had his first soccer game last Saturday.
Saw House Bunny last Sunday... funny... thinking about it will ruin it.

PRESENT

I went class shopping this week in hopes to find the best possible combo... no such thing.

I tried out the following:
Dynamics of Prejudice - topic sounds interesting... but the grad student teaching it ruined it.
Soc of Gender - sounds like a great class, but too much work that I am far from motivated to do.
Lesbian Culture and Politics - meh.
Psych of Human Sexuality - one of the final four... but... an exam is in the way of my plans.
Dynamics of Global Change - made the final four... not sure why... pr'ly b/c of the time.
Drugs, Crime, and Soc Control - same as above.
Drugs and Behavior - my favorite of the final four.

Whatev. It'll be over soon.

FUTURE

September'll be an excellent month... ready?

6th - Tim Finn/Kimo @ Lobo Theater
9th - Jenny Lewis releases new album
15th - Jenny Lewis @ Sunshine
16th - Gin Blossoms @ St. Fair
20th - Fall SW Funny Fest @ Kimo
23rd - Ani Difranco @ Lensic in Santa Fe (another excellent option Beck/MGMT @ Kimo)
25th - 29th - in Austin for ACL
30th - Iron & Wine @ Popejoy

October:

The "Travel Plan" below is even more perfect. Kaki King is playing at Bluebird on the 17th.
Only pr'lm is... I have an exam on the 14th... drop the class? I think so.

Updates...

Things are hectic and I'm ignoring it - bad move, I'm sure. I have a paper 'due' to my mentor at work on Friday... I feel as if I'm unqualified to write it, just because I barely have a toe in the water that is the subject of Computational Models in Social Sciences. It's interesting though, I'm learning (what a concept!). My old organization at work asked me to come back to help out with a Fest that will be at the end of May. I'm meeting with them next week to see if it will work, but I have my doubts because the semester is wrapping up and Death Cab for Cutie is playing in Denver the day of the start of the fest (which coincidently is my 6th anniversary at Sandia - I should NOT spend it working). We'll see what happens though, I wouldn't mind working with them again. I dropped Alcoholism, the class, from my life... I figured the best way to learn about the psychology of alcoholism would really be to pick up the bottle, so I bought a case of my favorite beer. Kidding, but I really did drop alcoholism. All joking aside, I feel like it was part slacker but well thought through and I am happy with this decision. By dropping the class I will be able to keep my job through March (instead of August) and take a couple of classes in the fall. Productive procrastination, of sorts. So now, I only have 2 actual classes (out of 4), Deaf Culture and Positive Psychology. I have my independent study that doesn't consist of 'class' and cross-cultural psych that I've decided to not go to... not that I ever really went (I think I've been to a total of 2 classes (that's 4 half classes) haha)... I found out today I got a 100% on the midterm... soooo I'm done thinking about going. I'm diggin' it.

Daydreaming

...because 18 credit hours at school and 25 hours/week at work isn't enough...

UNM Continuing Ed has a Digital Photography Certificate Program... it would only cost (at the most) 5k for levels I and II...

Thoughts?

Productive Procrastination

...is usually how I roll. I've pretty much decided to add a second major (Linguistics w/focus in Signed Language) and graduate in May '09 instead of May '08. I think/hope it's a good move. They're letting me keep my minor (Psychology) too so it's pretty good stuff.

Any strong thoughts/opinions?

Current thoughts towards grad school (as they change pretty much weekly): Hit it up in August '09 (no change there) pr'ly in Portland, Seattle or...? ...and go for Psycholinguistics?

First Week of Classes...

I figured that since I did this last semester it might be fun to do it again. I actually found it quite interesting to go back and see what my first impressions were compared to my final impression.

T/Rs start off great... with a nice walk to school with Amy.

First class is Psych of Language, Nothing but positive thoughts!

Deaf Culture, a little intimidated but excited.

Positive Psych, a self-help class. I'm not so great at learning about myself in a direct sense so we'll see how this goes. Prof is on top o' shi*... photographed the entire class individually, printed off a sheet of everyone and has already memorized all the names of his class of 50. He would.

Alcoholism, hilarious prof... intimidating but I think the entertainment of her dry humor is going to be totally worth it.

Cross-Cultural Psychology... was only in the 2.5 hour class for 8 minutes (because the class was added 2 weeks ago and the prof hasn't picked out a book yet) so I don't really have a whole lot to say other than those 8 minutes left me with positive thoughts towards the class.

Directed Study w/Bob Fiala... gotta love getting credit for work you're already doing!

I'm technically registered for Women and Cultural Violence (which I was v. excited about taking) but I decided not to go to it (it's a Thursday only class so it was the last one I would've tried out) because I cannot take 21 hours... I figured it was best to not get attached and just drop.

I'm pretty excited about this semester and not really wanting it to be my last, but I'm keeping my options open.... we'll see what happens.

Advisement Requested

After this semester my Soc degree is finished, just need 3 psych classes to finish my minor and a 3 more whatever (aka Sign) classes to hit the 128 needed to graduate.

Sounds pretty good 'eh? Only thing is... it kills me to think of detaching myself from Sign Language.

Should I:

A. Graduate this May w/Soc minor Psych and "go back" for a B.S. in Sign Lang Interpreting (assuming I get accepted)
Good: I feel like I've accomplished something.

B. Drop the Psych minor idea and double major in Soc and Sign?
Good: I don't have to worry about losing my job.

Either way I think it'll tack on another 2 years (that would only be full time to keep my job). That's what I get for deciding on the sign thing so late...

Please help me.


(I still need to post photos from CO last weekend)

First Day of Classes...

... was technically yesterday, but since I dropped that one I'd like to consider today as the first day. I pretty much decided before walking into Family Psych yesterday that it wasn't for me, probably just because I had a migraine. Anyway... I'm not upset about dropping a class, not even a little - I usually drop at least one a semester just for good measure, if nothing else.

Anyway... started the day with the same damn headache... pulled my ass outta bed and walked to class around 9. Totally dig the fact that the walk is like 88% in the shade!

I decided to try out a 9:30 class that I wasn't registered for because well, I do want to graduate sooner rather than later. Walked into Nelson Valdes' Soc of New Mexico - sounds like somewhat of a sleeper but he actually managed to keep my attention through the whole class - props to him for that.

Next class was Research Methods - the LAST of the Social Stats series - very excited that I managed to get it with my Data Analysis teach - exciting - it's a drag but it definitely could be worse, so I'm excited about that.

After that I had ASL 3, aside from some (well, one) annoying people in the class it'll be great
- 3rd class with the wonderful Bonnie Rudy - LOVE LOVE LOVE her!

Awkward break from 1:45-4:00 - The ever-so-lovely Bekah picked me up and enjoyed a nice visit to Ecco :D

4-4:50 Lovely Research Methods Lab - Teach is a "hard ass" - his words... totally won't suck as bad as it could. :) Thankfully, this one's only on Tuesday.

Another Awkward break from 4:50-5:30

Absolutely WONDERFUL Frickin' class! Soc of Law w/Chuck Barth... all I could think of when he was going through the intro was how bad ass this class is going to be.


... I really hated today, but looking back at it I think I have a pretty decent schedule. :)

Alright... I should probably pull my self away from Flying Star... not only am I going to suck their supply of Mango Iced Tea dry... but Mao needs food...

::Must call Comcast tomorrow!::

Even more updates...

I like my Mao (like the Communist leader in China, yes...). I'm gonna get a dog and name him something like Rugby and then call him Marx. Get it? Maybe? I donno. I like my cat. End of story.

I hung with Jenny on Sunday... no photos :( it was wonderful.

Went to din with sis on Tuesday (or something like it) at Flying Star... looked across the street and saw something... a Gelato place! Ecco Gelato is BAD FRICKIN ASS! (open 7-10 -SICK 'eh?!?!?) Go there. I LOVE THEM! (All sNob Hill needs is Relish). GO THERE!


Got to do lunch-ish with the wife on Tuesday - I believe - Also wonderful.

Wednesday night the cuz came over and I made din for her and sister. :) Lovely but no photos.

Hung out with Kris (we've been trying all summer) last night. Again, wonderful. Again, no photos.

Sorry for the scatteredness... My week has been different (no work... all school... love it)... and I wanted it to show, even if it wasn't the best way to do so.

Updates...

First of all I would like to apologize for the lack of posts as of late. The recent move took away my lovely ability to use the internet at home, so I find myself sneaking away to Flying Star (where I am currently)... or the parking lot of Satellite to make my connections. This past week has kept me especially distant from that connection due to a week long 8-5 class I was taking.

This has got to be one of the more valuable classes I have run into. I enrolled in this class, mediation, for many reasons... first of all I am interested in possibly venturing off into the filed of Conflict Resolution for grad school, secondly I figured it would be a very valuable skill to have and... well... it was a 3 credit hour upper division course that was offered in a week. It seems as if almost every time I would tell someone about my class over text or e-mail they thought I said meditation. I found this to be somewhat interesting because that is what I was reading the first couple of times I saw it too. People would say something similar to 'well, that's nice... you'll start the fall semester nice and relaxed.' I found it amusing that people (including myself) confuse mediation with meditation (even if it is just on paper). I found this class to be very beneficial in many ways. The week long full focus on one class worked extremely well, it's a shame all classes aren't like this. :) There were lot of things I knew about my self were reiterated through this class. Many of these things I tend to view as more negative (even though I can see the value in them, I still valued the opposite qualities a little more) , this class caused me to see them as a positive thing... which is very good for me. I could probably ramble on about the class but we'll save that for another time, when most of my thoughts and opinions have faded. ;)

Let's step back a bit so I can toss some more updates in... Many of these would've been their own post but I'm combining because it sounds like fun.

On August 4th (I only remember because that's when my photos are dated) I broke the kitchen in and made my first dinner (& dessert) in my new kitchen. It was fabulous... thanks to Trader Joe's... :)Apparently (as my photos are showing) I was going to blog next with photos of my apartment... I haven't had the chance to take many... but this might... kinda sorta... give you an idea... maybe.

... ok... I can see how that really didn't accomplish anything... I had more photos but things have changed since I've taken them... so I suppose I'll have to update and post then :)

Alright... I'm getting annoyed with this lengthy post... stay tuned for the continuation of my updates.

Fall Classes

August 13-17
M-F
8-5 Mediation

Monday
5:30-8 Family Psychology

Tuesday & Thursday
11-12:15 Research Methods
12:30-1:45 ASL 3
4-4:50 Research Methods
5:30-6:45 Soc of Law

... I'm thinkin' I have a pretty good semester lined up...
All I'll need in the spring is a Soc and Psych class and a couple other whatever classes!

Another reason...

...why I should pursue ASL...

After the end of the first final I begin to obsess over checking my grades. I find it interesting that one of my classes that ended last was the first to post a grade. This class ended around 9am Thursday and the grade was up Friday evening. I realize that Bonnie is extremely on top of things and more organized than any other professor I've come in contact with but really, come on now. Why don't I have a grade for the class that ended the Wednesday of the week before final's week? Ridiculous I tell you.

I want my grades.

10 Kudos to Bonnie. ASL's lookin' pretty hot right now. Lame, I know.

Big Rewards

Another thing that is very rewarding is getting an A (with very positive comments) on that paper you hated writing and turned in a week and a day late and considered dropping. Yes, very rewarding.

Small Rewards

I have one class that is particularly difficult to attend. Data Analysis is basically statistics and it bor-ring! I recently noticed I do very well on all of my take home tests but not so great with the quizzes. I had been missing many classes (especially those before quizzes) which resulted in low quiz scores. My regular attendance as of late resulted in my first excellent score on a quiz. That was enough motivation to convince me to go to class... for a while, I still find it difficult to refrain from ditching. It occurred to me that there's a Starbucks in Zimmerman, right across from my class so I reward myself with a nice Venti Passion Iced Tea (w/3.5 pumps of sweetener, rather than 6). This gives me something to look forward to and keeps me going to class. Funny how something that works for a 3 year-old still works on a 21 year-old. :)

Dreaming in sign

I dreamt in sign language last night... I think this prompted this...
I've always been very aware of my interest in ASL and it becomes even more apparent on a daily basis. Sign Language is the only class I'm really motivated in and the only class I get excited about doing my homework. One would think it would be in my better interest to pursue a degree in signed language interpreting however this 6 page paper that was due last week in Contemporary Soc Theory sounds like much more fun.

Just thought it would be fun to point out (to my many readers) how logical I am.

School

Just a couple of days ago I was ready to pull the plug on school, knowing that I would likely lose my job and scholarship, I wanted desperately to drop half of my classes. The middle of the semester always seems to be the worst. I had (well, have) a somewhat difficult paper due and all the midterms and tests were piling up. I received my lowest grade ever on a sign language exam, I held a 64% in my Data Analysis class and I really didn't (still don't) want to write that paper for Contemporary Theory. Aside from my battle with Contemporary Theory things are looking up. I met with my ASL teacher for the mid-semester meeting and received my grade for the expressive (where I video tape myself signing) midterm (something I thought I did absolutely horrible on), turns out I got an A and have a B in the class. I took my midterm in Contemporary Theory and feel pretty damn good about it... just need to write that paper. I had a quiz yesterday for Data Analysis and I'm pretty sure I correctly answered all (including the extra credit questions) correctly which will bring my grade up to a 74%, I am very confident I can bring it up to at least a B. :) ... the class I haven't mentioned yet, Psychology of Women I am doing relatively well in (glad there's at least one of these).

Now, I just need the motivation to get going on this paper. Where do I find it?

Free transportation to school?

Students to get free bus rides

Yesssssss! Now, how does this work? Someone teach me! I could just call the trip planner but that seems so... lame. Surley someone with half a brain can figure this shit out? ... right?

Midterms

... I'm sure we've all had these days, hope they go much better this time around!

Happy midterms to you all! Spring break is within reaching distance!