I Survived Y'all!

It's official, y'all. I am now the proud owner of a Master's of Arts Degree in Emerging Media and Communications.

This is my dear friend Syd. We're also known as For Reals (we remixed a song for our first class and have been friends ever since).

Oh, and in case you were curious I also made all A's for this semester, so YAY! The graduation ceremony was a week ago (if you want to read about my initial thoughts on the matter CLICK HERE), and since then I have been doing nothing but going to seeing movies (and a play) and catching up on all the TV shows I got behind on because of school (and reminding myself of others).

It's been AWESOME.

The last shows I need to catch up on are Being Human (US), Fringe, and Psych. I had like 60 something shows in my Hulu queue, and as of now I have 20. I consider this a small victory for myself.

And once I'm done with the shows I had already been watching, my next objective is to start watching the shows that I've heard so much about but hadn't wanted to start (Downton Abbey for example).

I have so many other things that I'm super excited about and want to tell you though.

So, be prepared because I'm getting back into blogging now that I'm done with school (and almost done catching up on my TV shows). I hope y'all have a fantastic Memorial Day, and look forward to the following posts that I'm going to try really hard to put up soon:

• 2012 is the YEAR for Movies (what I'm excited for)
• A Guide to Midnight Showings
• The man blog I started with my friend Anna (it's delightful, you should check it out now)
• A few projects I have coming up/want to do, including a podcast, and possibly an online radio station
• How I'm seeing Benedict Cumberbatch in an encore broadcast of Frankenstein
• The Road to Comic Con

That's what I have planned for the moment. In the meantime, feel free to read these couple entries I had put on my Tumblr about my wonderful coworker: CLICK HERE and HERE. Really you should take a gander at my Tumblr every now and then cause I always put funny stuff up there (or at least what I think is funny). :)

Anyway, I'm glad to be a normal social and functioning human being again! I've missed you guys!!!

1 Class Down, 2 more to go

I finished all the work for my creative performance today and now I can sit back and relax.

Well not really. I got a ton of stuff for my other two classes (thesis and screenwriting), but at least I don't have to worry about this other class. And because I know you guys TOTALLY want to hear my final project, here it is:

It's an audio play about a tour guide at a metal kazoo factory (It's 17 minutes FYI... hey... it's a play okay?!):

And because I know you guys ALSO want to hear about the crazy-ness that happened after I presented it to the class and to hear about a RIDICULOUS person in my class who also presented her project... (really it's a good story), you should click on the link below for my Tumblr post about it cause it comes complete with hilarious GIFS that adequately express my emotions (also you should read the tags at the bottom because they also add to the story and give you a better picture why I think this person is ridiculous):

CLICK HERE

Okie doke... that is all for now.

Just like 3 more weeks and I'm DONE. THREE MORE WEEKS.

It Ended Where It Began

Um... so... hey guys!

Remember me?

Hey, I did say I wouldn't be able to post much till after I was done with school, and really I shouldn't even be typing this, but I'm hoping writing this out will help get my mind focused.

I have about 3 weeks till the end of my grad school career.

It's crazy, right?

And it's ending how it began.

With an emotional breakdown.

If you recall, when I started my grad school career I had so many problems with administrative type issues (financial aid and what not) that I broke down and started crying, worried that if I couldn't handle this, maybe I wasn't cut out for grad school after all.

And, now, I am so close to the end I can see it, and I'm almost there.

But there is so much I have to do before I get to the end. Once it all caught up to me, my stress was through the roof and I pretty much just lost it.

This happened a week or so ago, so I'm a little better now, but I'm probably just as stressed (if not more so since I'm a week from the deadline on most of these things).

It was a combination of many factors (which is always the case in emotional breakdowns, am I right?), that involved work, school, and church, and I almost gave up and just wanted to abandon everything. I called my mom and broke down in tears telling her I couldn't do it (ugh I'm tearing up now just thinking about it).

And even though my mom likes to criticize me sometimes (her way of trying to get me to be better, which I get), instead she told me that I could and that I needed to sit down and make a list of everything I needed to get done and what I had to do to complete that list (my mom, always the practical one).

Isn't it great how moms always seem to know what you need?

I'm still stressed, but I've made a lot of progress, which is important. But, this week and next I'm just going to be a grumpy, distracted, stressed out mess. I have a final project (which is almost completed) and accompanying paper due (not too stressed about that part but should probably write it sometime before then...) on the 16th for my acting class, and the 1st draft of my thesis is due on the 20th (yeah my blog which I have NO posts up for... this is the thing I'm freaking out about the most).

After the 20th, I'll be a little more personable and friendly... because after that I'll just have to do my thesis presentation and accompanying reflection paper (to wrap everything up), and then my 90 page script (of which I currently only have 26 pages of because I had to REWRITE the 36 pages I had.... yeah that was one of the things that contributed to the emotional breakdown) for my screenwriting class is due on the 10th.

Then graduation is on the 19th.

And then I'll have a Master's of Arts in Emerging Media and Communications from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Yeah... I know...

I'm terrible.

I'd like to claim that life has been really busy (which is not that far from the truth actually), but I've still managed to find the time to blog on Tumblr. So...

Y'all aren't mad at me about that, are you? You know I still love you. I do.

Please forgive me.

I'll be honest though, now that spring break is over and classes start up again and I only have about a month and a half left of the semester, I'm not sure how often I'll be back on here before the semester ends.

I shall try my best, but no promises. However, before I go away, I wanted to give you some highlights and updates in case you don't follow my Twitter/Tumblr and don't know what's going on in my life:

• Remember how I had posted about me being all cool and academic? This week I got to publish another post with In Media Res on the TV Show "Once Upon A Time." It can be found here: CLICK HERE
• This Thursday I'm going to the midnight showing of The Hunger Games and I'm so freakin' stoked to see this movie.
• This Saturday I have my presentation with my friend at a grad student symposium that I'm both equally nervous and excited for.
• This Sunday I may get a chance to meet the author of one of my all time favorite books as a child, The Phantom Tollbooth. This was the book that made me want to go into English and want to be a writer/editor. He's going to be at the Meyerson as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra performs the premiere pieces of two songs inspired by two of his books.
• If you didn't see on my various social networking sites, my whole family is going to ComicCon in July and I'm soooooooo excited for this you have no idea. AND the first day is ON MY BIRTHDAY. So it's a combined birthday and graduation gift to myself. :)
• My thesis is now a research blog, and I would love for you all to check it out and add it to your RSS feeds and comment on posts etc. (It's not very pretty at the moment and it only has one post so far cause I'm still working on it.) You can find it here: CLICK HERE
• I have now become a huge fan of Supernatural, more specifically Jensen Ackles, and I'm slowly but surely working my way through the seasons with my friends. (Although my mom wants me to hurry and finish cause she is now all caught up with the current season, 7th season mind you, and wants to talk about it. It took her about a month to get through them, and I'm in season 3. Yeah.)

And that's basically what's been going on in my life so far. I hope you guys are doing well and that you're not too angry that I've been slacking on this blog. I LOVE YOU.

Recap of the Week

Well I'm sad to report that nothing TOO dramatic happened (bahahahaha you know cause it's a drama class???) in my acting class this last Monday. We had some experimental performance artist come and present on her work which was... interesting. Then we only had time for 4 people in the class to present their own performance pieces because our professor kept talking and then making them change and redo stuff after each person. I felt so bad for one girl because she read a story she had written, which was beautiful and touching, but because she hadn't "performed" it and just read it, the professor made her redo parts of it and do it different ways over and over again. She is already a super quiet girl, and an undergrad no less (in a grad class), and she looked like she might burst into tears by the end of it.

The only thing that made me mad was that our professor held us over. I mean it's already a 3 hour class that gets out at 9:45 pm, so holding us till 10 and then telling us not to pack up when it's past time is kind of annoying. I didn't get to perform my piece, so now I get to re-memorize it, and hopefully I'll get to do it tomorrow. I'll let you know how that goes.

As for the rest of the week:

• My roommate and I bought a bunch of fancy cheese and it was delicious. CLICK HERE
• I finally watched The Walking Dead, and it is pretty much awesome. CLICK HERE
• I kind of love my screenwriting class (and lucky for me, those annoying people dropped the class, so there's only 11 of us now), and I love the idea I have for my script. I'm just hoping that I can execute it well.
• My family really likes to group text, which ends up being hilarious. CLICK HERE
• I did my first of three presentations to my professors on my thesis, and afterwards it turns out I'll be doing a blog instead of a huge paper, which I'm kind of more than okay with. I'll probably still have to write a paper, it just won't be 40 pages. :) Once I get the blog for it up and running, I'll let you know about it.
• Speaking of academic stuff, March is going to be crazy because I got accepted to curate another piece for the online journal In Media Res (like I did HERE only this time it's just me), and I'll be presenting my paper then too.
• Yesterday we celebrated my roommate's birthday and ate delicious sushi and saw The Woman in Black, which I thought was good and not as scary as you might think.
• I made some scones today, and they were delicious. CLICK HERE

And I did sort of not really pay attention to the Super Bowl or the commercials. I mean, I know who won (the Giants), and I saw some commercials... But, really I only ever watched the Super Bowl for the commercials anyway, and now that you can see most of the commercials before hand and afterwards on Hulu, I just don't even bother watching them as they air now.

That was pretty much my week. I will warn you now though, I've been slacking pretty badly on my thesis work, and so I may not update very much. I'm going to try really hard because I enjoy blogging as it kind of gives me a break, but no promises. I have a stack of about 30 books I need to go through, so I'm not going to have much of a life outside of that for a while. Wish me luck!

The Final Frontier

Like I do at the beginning of every semester, this is my analysis of the first day of my classes. This semester I have my capstone/thesis course/paper to work on (YAY!), and then I'm taking two other classes.

The first is a screenwriting class, which I had last week. The professor seems pretty cool, and it looks like we'll be watching a lot of film clips, which if you know me, you know I'm totally okay with. We'll also be reading full screenplays as well, and since I've never actually read a full screenplay I'm kind of excited for it. I can already tell that there are going to be a few people in there that are going to annoy me though.

For example, the professor said that we are going to be focusing on films (no TV shows) and have them in a 3-act style. He then asked if everyone was familiar with a 3-act play, and everyone pretty much nodded and a few people rose their hands. He called on one of the dudes who rose his hand, and the guy says, "Well, do you mean theatre or films?" (And PS I spelled it that way on purpose because that is how this dude is acting. Like a pompous know-it-all.) And the professor says, "Well, either." Then someone else says, "Umm doesn't it just mean it has a beginning, middle, and an end?" To which the professor says, "Yes." Do you mean theater or film? Seriously, dude? Get over yourself. But other than that, I'm excited to see what I come up with. I have a few vague ideas, which is apparently okay for the moment since we just have to come up with premises. I'll let you know what happens. I will say though, the professor did say, no vampires.... or zombies. So there goes those ideas! (KIDDING! Totally wasn't going to write about either of those.)

The other class is titled Creative Performances, and because I could not type fast enough what I wanted to tell you about the ridiculousness of this class, I recorded me talking about it. Yes, it is 10 minutes long, for which I only partly apologize. But seriously guys, the class was INSANE, you're really going to want to listen to all of it because it just gets better and better. I like can't even believe what happened. So much so... that it might become a regular weekly segment on the blog. Yes, it's that good. LISTEN TO IT:

Rant about my class by missnesbit

Then of course the Master's thesis, which if you want to hear about the fun starting on that CLICK HERE. It's going to be a great semester, full of writing, and hilarity, and if I can make it through to the end, I'll be DONE!!!!

Let's hope I can hold on. :)

Look At Me Being All Academic

I helped write/curate a paper about America's Next Top Model for In Media Res, an online journal of sorts, and it got published today! See?

CLICK HERE

I'm like totes published/famous now. (Not really, but it makes me feel special and scholarly.)

I'm even thinking about submitting another piece soon (on my own) for this journal. If it gets accepted, don't worry, I'll totally let you know.

Not to mention, in March, I'll be presenting with a friend of mine a paper/project we did in our first semester of our program at a grad student symposium.

Look at me... I'm all academic and stuff.

And I get to be more so because my LAST semester starts next week. WOOT!

When I Wander Around Anthropologie

This is what I think about (it's on my Tumblr):

CLICK HERE

In other news, I only have a few more weeks till my last semester starts and instead of trying to get things ready (like I was supposed to have all break) for my thesis, like you know finding books and articles and get the groundwork laid out), I'm trying to watch as much TV as possible.

Nothing is left in my Hulu queue, I'm all caught up on Doctor Who, and US Being Human, and a couple other shows that I had postponed watching because of school. I guess I'm trying to make my break as fulfilling as I can.

If only I didn't have to go to work, then I'd have TONS of time to watch tons of shows.

A Weight Has Been Lifted... Sort of

On Thursday night I finished everything I had to for school, and once that happened, I seriously can't tell you how relieved I was. The week or two leading up to that point I had been stressed out of my mind. I had spent several nights in a row staying up till 4 in the morning trying to finish papers/projects/studying. (Although I'll admit, some of it was spent distracting myself on the Internet. I almost don't want to tell you, but I was trying to avoid working on a paper so much that I watched eleven, count it--ELEVEN, really crappy youtube lessons on how to fake a Scottish accent.*)

My plan once I finished the semester was to consume as much TV/movies as possible. I'm so behind on my shows because of school and have discovered a bunch of other shows and movies I want to watch but have been resisting because I didn't want to get obsessed and become more distracted from school (at least more so than I already was). I was so excited to be a total couch potato for a month before my last semester starts.

Yeah... I don't think it's going to work out how I planned.

I mean I have watched some shows, but I already have to get started on my master's capstone thesis. I also have to work on a group project because our paper proposal got accepted for this online journal called In Media Res, and it's due at the beginning of January. Not to mention there were some projects/videos that I started but wasn't able to finish (luckily my professor didn't care so much, so I didn't have to rush to finish them before the end of the semester, but I still feel I need to finish them since I started them already).

So.... looks like I won't be much of a couch potato during Christmas break.

Dang it.

*If you're curious I can kind of say "rural" and "loch," which I learned means lake which I think I knew already but for reason him saying it made more sense to me suddenly), and I have attempted to say "provocative" while rolling the "r" and it umm sounds far from provocative.

So Much For A Super Productive Thanksgiving Break

First off, I apologize for slacking on this blog. I do update my Tumblr more often because, I'll be honest, it's easier to do. But, I've even been slowing down a bit on that one as well. Why?

Well, I'm nearing the end of the semester, so I've had tons of final projects and papers that I have needed to do. In fact, the plan for this Thanksgiving break was to get tons of stuff done on these projects and papers.

Did I stick to this plan?

Yeah... no.

I'd like to blame my family, but let's be honest, one day I decided to go shopping instead of working on stuff, so it's my fault too. I'm kind of mad at myself about this, but I can't do anything about it now. It's already Saturday, and I really haven't done much. I've worked on a few things here and there, but nothing's really completed.

I wish I could extend the break longer, but when I think about it, I'd probably just waste my time on the longer break and not get anything done again. I just want to fast forward to December 9th because it means the semester will be over, I'll have finished everything, and I can have a break from school.

Gosh, where is The Doctor and his Tardis when you need 'em?!

This Cool Thing I Made

First off, I know, it's been awhile. I have seriously been so stressed that I have not wanted to do anything, not homework, not blogging, not hanging out with people. All I've wanted to do is either sleep or watch Doctor Who (which is another post in and of itself). I think I'm starting to come out of this stress-induced coma-like state, and figured I'd let y'all know that I'm still alive and not actually in a coma.

One of the projects that I finally got around to finishing was a soundscape that I had to do. Because I know y'all totally want to hear it, I figured I'd share it.
  Soundscape for EMAC by missnesbit
All of the sounds in the clip were ones I recorded except for the jungle sounds.

Now because I had to enlist the help of a few coworkers to get the office sounds, I shared the finished piece with them, and one of them was so inspired (or incredibly bored, but we'll say inspired) wrote a little story to go with the piece. I loved it so much I asked her if I could share it with you guys, and she said of course! So here it is by Lynn C.:

John strolled into his building at just a few minutes past his usual time, but he still wasn't hurrying. His shoes made a regular sound on the polished tile of the building's lobby that sounded businesslike to him, and he wasn't going to mess the rhythm up by rushing when he didn't have to.

Two other people were already waiting for the elevator when he got there, and it still took a while for one to announce its arrival with the usual chiming ding, pneumatic doors whispering open in dispassionate invitation to enter the blank little box they guarded. John got in, noticed which buttons had been pushed, and moved to the back of the elevator. His floor was going to be last, as usual. There was another floor above his, but he'd never seen anyone go up there in all the time that he'd worked in the building. They heard sounds from the upper floor - his floor's ceiling - sometimes, but never saw any people to go with them.

First stop was the third floor, announced by the elevator's female computer voice that always sounded vaguely Star Trekish to John, and the doors slid open to allow in an odor of burned coffee and copy toner. The woman who got off there walked into the maze of cubicles without a backward glance,apparently unaffected by the solid wall of busy business noise that made the two men in the elevator wince. Whatever was going on in that office, there was apparently a lot of it.

The burnt coffee odor lingered once the doors had closed again, but it fled when the computer announced their arrival at the fifth floor and the doors slid back to reveal verdant jungle. The air that poured into the little metal box felt almost liquid, humid and warm and green. A parrot flew by, complaining loudly, and the other man in the elevator rolled his eyes. "I hate that thing," he commented, sliding off his suit jacket and folding it over his arm and then taking a machete out of his nice leather briefcase before stepping out into the wild tangle of green. He immediately began hacking his way further in. "Janet!" he called out, echoed by another ugly squawk from the parrot. "Has my ten o'clock called yet? Because I think the Harris case is going to run long..."

The doors slid shut, and John adjusted his tie, grimacing at the sticky feeling the law office's jungle humidity had left under his collar. Thank goodness his office wasn't like that. Although he did kind of like the parrot; he kept hoping it would fly into the elevator some morning, but it never had.

“Fifteenth floor,” announced the elevator some thirty seconds later. The doors slid open...to a violent downpour. John jumped back with a curse. He considered the rain for a moment, then decisively pushed the close button followed by the one for the first floor; his cuff was damp and the sleeve of his jacket spotted when he pulled his hand back. The doors took their time closing, letting even more rain get in, and then the elevator was heading back down to the ground level. John brushed stray droplets off his pants, grimacing at the spots and streaks they left on the light gray fabric. He'd just go get his umbrella from the car and then go in, his boss wasn't going to yell at him for being late with the weather like that.

School is a Vacuum Cleaner: It Sucks Up My Life

Y'all, I'm sorry for not posting sooner. This week has just been crazy and I've been going non-stop and haven't felt like I could just stop and breathe, let alone sit down and type out all the blog posts I want to do. And sadly... I don't think that feeling is going to go away any time soon. At least not till the semester is over. Sounds like it's time for the promised semester overview:

First Class of the Week
So on Wednesday nights I have what is officially called "Approaches to Emergent Media and Communications" but what is really just a research class. Which REALLY means that it's going to be super boring and a TON of work. I have a homework assignment that I have to turn in every week and we have 3 exams and a final and then we have the final research paper. I thought grad school was all about discussion and the occasional paper/assignment/final project? I can already tell this class will be a pain in the butt. PAIN IN THE BUTT!!!

Luckily, however, most of the people in the class are my friends so we can complain about the class together afterwards. Like how the professor spent 20 minutes and went OVER class time (which means I didn't get out of class till 10pm) about plagiarism, complete with examples and comparisons. It's grad school, if someone has plagiarized something, kick them the heck out of the program and school; they are complete idiots and SHOULD know better. I get that this is a problem and might need to be addressed, but, you don't have to spend 20 minutes talking about how people shouldn't do it and showing what it means to plagiarize. Alls you gots to say is, "Don't plagiarize in any way, shape, or form. If you're confused by what this means or have questions, come see me after class and I will gladly explain." That's it. It's a freakin' Master's level class, no need to treat us like we're in high school. But... I digress.

Second Class of the Week
Then on Thursday I have to leave work early (yup... which means I get to make up the time on Fridays that I normally wouldn't work. I'm quite upset by this fact) to go to my "Literature, Science, and Culture" class, which is all about game theory, itself and found in the literature we're reading. The first meeting of this class I missed (cause I was in Utah), so I met with the professor in his office when I got back. When I first met him, I realized he was an adorable old British man who apparently likes to wear super thick turtleneck sweaters and shorts (yeah that's what he was wearing) in his office. I talked to him about the class and I introduced myself and what not and then he laid this piece of knowledge on me (after he asked if I'd read The Lord of the Rings after me saying I like reading and have an English degree):

"I met Tolkien when I was at Oxford. He looks like Gandalf, just a miniature version of him."

I was too dumbfounded to ask him anything else (like what does he mean by he looks like Gandalf? the description of him in the book? Sir Ian McKellen himself or as he's dressed up as the character in the movie? Did you also meet C.S. Lewis???) so I didn't. The class so far has been filled with a lot of discussion that goes off on tangents and that sometimes appears to be over my head. Not to mention I can tell that a few of my classmates are going to be super annoying. This class just requires a lot of reading, and as far as grades it's based on participation and weekly reading quizzes (and I'm pretty sure I totally bombed my first one) with an OPTIONAL term paper and that's it. No final, no midterm, no required paper. This is both good and bad for obvious reasons. Let's hope I'll get in the groove of this class and not tune out what he's actually saying because I'm lulled by his British accent. Let's hope.

Third Class of the Week
Then later on that evening on Thursday nights, I have "Emerging Media Studio" which is essentially a film class with a little extra things EMAC related. I think this class is the one I'll have the most fun in and will probably learn the most. I'm not that great at filming, so I'm looking forward to learning more about it and geting some more hands on projects as opposed to just learning about it in generalities. We have an assignment (video or otherwise) every week, and then we'll have a final project at the end. So far though, the assignments have been fun and/or easy to complete. For example, the class's focus is on online identities, so the professor asked us to create a fake personality on any platform we choose and about anything we want. SO, if y'all are looking for a little extra entertainment in your life, feel free to check out my alter ego Betty Sue who lives in a trailer park in Oklahoma, loves country music, huntin', and NASCAR, and tweets some pretty funny pictures.

Bonus Class of the Week
AND THEN because I'm an idiot and like to torture myself, I'm auditing an Independent Study class that meets on Friday nights (not every Friday night just most of them) on Fashion and Media that would be really awesome if only I could invest more time and effort into it and could be getting credit for it. I warned my professor I probably wouldn't be able to contribute much, which she said she was cool with, but I'm hoping I can at least do one of the projects: make some kind of wearable computing/tech fashion thing. We'll see how it goes.

In Conclusion
And that my friends is my semester. Basically I'm going to be spending most of my time running around like a chicken with my head cut off, but other than that, don't mind me. Blogging is my release, so don't think I won't update at all, but just know that it might not be as frequent as I'd like it to be.

I'm such a nerd

Today was my first class this semester and not going to lie, I totally missed school. Not really all the work and reading involved, but all my classmates and feeling like I was learning new things and engaging in stimulating, thought-provoking, philosophical conversation. Not that I didn't have those conversations this summer but it's just different in a school type setting with people that know what you're talking about.

I didn't realize how much I missed seeing my classmates till we had a mini reunion before and after class. No seriously, we all gave each other hugs and asked how the summer went, etc. Last year a few classmates and I would always end up standing in the parking lot after class to have a discussion on the most random topics, but we would love the discussion so much that we'd end up staying out there really late. We had one tonight, and though we didn't have one as long as usual, I loved every minute of it. We laughed, complained about our class or the stupid and/or annoying people in it, and just enjoyed each other's company and stories. It was refreshing, not to mention that it was actually cool outside for this parking lot convo.

Of course, I might be changing my tune and complaining about how I'm going to die or how I'm super stressed as the semester progresses, but someone remind of this post and how I said I missed it, okay?

Also, I leave for Utah tomorrow, so hopefully I survive that straight-through 21 hour drive. :) Don't miss me too much while I'm gone loves!!

The Thing I Told You To Keep Your Eyes Peeled For...

I'm going to Utah THIS WEEK!

Yup. It's going to be a SUPER quick kind of last-minute trip, and while it's a long story about how it ended up working out, the important thing is I'm going and I'm excited. I'm mainly going to help out my brother Cameron bring all of his stuff back down to Texas because he decided not to continue going to Utah State in Logan and instead move back home and transfer to University of Texas at Dallas (where I'm going for my Master's!).

BUT while I'm there I also get to see a few friends I haven't seen in literally years! I'm going to be able to go see my friend Libby at her wedding open house/reception (and she doesn't know I'm going to be there BT Dubs). I haven't seen Libby since before she left on her mission, which was like 4 years ago. Also there will be other people I know at the reception/open house that will be there as well that I'm so stoked to see, but besides Libby I'm psyched to get to see my friend Wes, whom I also haven't seen in like 4 years either. (I'm secretly hoping I get to see Academy Fantasia, Wes, so I sure hope you do it within the like 2 hours I'll see you.)

Among the peeps at the open house, I'm hoping to get to see my friend Carey, that is if our schedules can mesh and she can work me in around working with the BYU football team. :) I'll also see mi familia in Provo since we're staying with them and all... and of course I'll get to briefly drive the streets of Provo and remember all the good times I had in college.

Sounds like this trip will be awesome, right?

Well... here's the downsides (for all involved):

I will have to drive (because I'm hauling my brother's crap, remember?), but my dad, who is ALREADY in Utah with my brother at this very moment, insisted that he drive with me since he doesn't want me driving alone. So, I'm picking him up from the airport (after flying in from SLC) on Thursday and then heading out on the road where we will drive straight through, no stops, taking turns, until we arrive on Friday at the Bubble that is Provo, UT. Then Saturday morning we'll wake up super early and drive ALL the way back to the Promised Land of Texas, luckily stopping this time in the Land of Enchantment that is Albuquerque, NM for the night and continuing on on Sunday. Also, I have to miss the first day of 2 of my classes, but I already emailed my professors and they say it's cool. :)

Yeah... I'm pretty much going to be dead by the time this is all over. AWESOME! Just in time for the start of the semester too. It's going to be great.

So Much for Straight A's

I just checked my grades for my summer class and I have mixed emotions about it. I'm a little disappointed because it means that I now no longer have straight A's for my grad school career (don't worry it's not failing or anything and it's kind of close to an A). Y'all know me, I'm such a perfectionist. I dropped my Honors Geometry class in high school and went to regulars after 2-3 weeks because I had gotten a 70 on our first test. (Yes. True story.)Yet at the same time, I was kind of expecting it and knew I hadn't done that well.

BUT I did learn something.

I in no way want to take a business or marketing class EVER AGAIN.

I hated this class. I wasn't interested in anything that I was supposed to be learning, everything was incredibly boring and confusing because I have no experience in business or marketing (everyone else in the class was in their 5th semester in the business program), and because it was online it was harder for me to motivate myself to actually study/read, not to mention that getting a response (both quickly and one that actually answered the question/made sense) from the professor was like pulling teeth. So I just winged it the whole class. Luckily I had a fairly strong group that knew what they were doing (for the most part), so I just did my part to help out and took whatever grade we got (cause it was better than the grade I would have gotten if I had to do it on my own).

Whatever. It's over, and at least I passed (gosh, never thought I'd be okay with that phrase...). Fall semester starts next week, so maybe I can bring my GPA back up over the next 2 semesters. My last 2 semesters.

P.S. I have some fun/exciting things going on in the next few weeks (well next week actually) that I want to tell you all about, so you know... keep your eyes peeled.

My apologies

Guys, I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a few weeks. Life has been pretty crazy as of late and I just haven't had time to sit down and get some blogging done. I had a midterm for my online class that I was freaking out about so the weekend of the 4th of July was spent studying and then taking the test. Then this weekend I had my pre-Harry Potter Harry Potter party, which was a huge success and I had tons of fun, and also some good times out in the boonies with a few friends where I swam, ate fresh blackberries, and shot some guns. Pretty awesome.

Sadly, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to blog this week either because I'm MOVING this Friday!!! I know, I so haven't filled you guys in on things. I'm such a terrible blogger. :( But, I'm hoping that I'll be able to write up something soon. Until then, here's a brief recap on a few happenings and thoughts:

• I'm super excited and sad for the upcoming HP movie since it's the last one (Of course I'm going to the midnight showing)! Looking back at the older movies, those kids were so little then and are SOO grown up now! ALSO, the kid who played Neville is now incredibly hot. No, really.
• I only have about a month left of my class, which I'm glad about because I want it over so bad.
• Speaking of school, I met with my professor to discuss my idea for my capstone project, and she absolutely loved it, so I'm way excited to get started on the research for it and everything. It's going to be off the hook!
• I got a new position at work. Before, I edited journals, but now starting tomorrow, I'll be editing books and also helping out on the wiki they want to start. I'm excited and hoping that this new position (with a new boss and new cube) will be a good thing for me.
• This Friday is the day I can officially move into my apartment. It's in Richardson, so it's not too far away from my house, but it does mean I'm closer to work and school and also in a different YSA ward. I have mixed feelings about this fact.
• Also... I haven't started packing. I've packed 1 box and my room is a total disaster area. I might not be fully moving in on Friday... it might have to be in phases.
• On Tuesday I will be 25 years old. A QUARTER OF A CENTURY. I can do exciting things at this age now... like rent a car without having to pay an extra fee. And... that's about it. But, yeah, I can't believe I'll be 25 in 2 days. It's kind of crazy. I might have an existential breakdown... or at least I'm considering it.

See? I've had a lot of things going on lately... I hope you guys are doing well, and I promise as soon as things calm down a bit or I get a spare moment, I'll try to post some more things. I will say, I tend to post more frequently on my Tumblr if anyone cares to see what I'm up to on there....

The Glorious Weekend of Nothingness

Ok, I lie, it wasn't really nothingness, but it was the first weekend in a long while that I didn't have to worry  or procrastinate doing school work!

Yes, on Wednesday, I finished my first year of grad school. Pretty crazy huh?

I survived!

And now that I was done I got as much social interaction with others and doing things I like as I could:

• Wednesday night I hung out with some girlfriends until much later than I should have since I had work the next day. 
• Thursday... I don't even remember what I did, which of course means it must have been awesome and chill (I probably just chilled at home with the fam, honestly... actually now that I think about it... I think I went shopping). 
• Friday I had off and got my hair did and then went to a party and then the movies with some friends. 
• Then on Saturday I went garage-saleing with my dad, little bro and sis (which was an adventure) and then I spent the rest of the day shopping and chatting it up with one of mi amiga mayor. :)
• Sunday was... you know Sunday, but I did get to sleep in and then I spent the night making cupcake decorations for a baby shower this weekend.

I know... you're pretty jealous. Well, don't be... you could be one of these friends in the future because I'm only taking one online class this summer, so I'm going to live it up as best I can.

Who wants to party next?!

Two Words

I'm tired.

The end of this semester could not come any faster. Friday I was so tired that the following things happened:

• While in the shower that morning, I couldn't remember if I had actually washed my hair or not. (For the story click here)
• I stared at a note I had written to myself the day before for 5 minutes and still didn't know what it meant. (For the note click here)
• My flip flop broke and then I forgot my fob (what I need to get into work) in my car when I got back from lunch and was too tired and lazy to go back to get it. (For the tragic details click here)
• I didn't feel like going out and doing anything (not to mention I had homework to do), so I stayed home while my family went to the mall and declined an invitation to watch a movie with friends.

Saturday was more of the same. I stayed home and worked on stuff while my family went out. Then I got so tired of staring at my computer that I refused to do anymore work and watched Easy A on Starz on Demand with my mom and little brother while the windy storm blew our lawn furniture across our backyard and cut the power to the cable several times (we had to restart and fast forward Easy A three times).

Today was pretty good. I did nothing productive until about 10pm because I thought watching Last Cake Standing and Food Network Challenge with my family was more important.

Basically, I'm tired of having to be anti-social, and I want to be done with school, but I'll settle for the semester being over at least. 

19 more days till May 13th.

Perhaps It's For The Best

A few posts ago I mentioned how my awesome plan to graduate by May 2012 was going to have to be altered. Now that I've started thinking about it, I'm thinking it's probably okay that I wasn't able to take any classes in my program this summer. I am taking one class over the summer (a what-might-turn-boring-real-quick marketing class), and it's online! YAY!

Basically, I need a break. This semester has really got to me and I'm only 2 weeks away from the end (minus final projects/papers) and I am just dragging myself to the end. It's been fun and enlightening, yes, but it's also been a ton of work and reading and creativity. And I'm just ready to not have to be so philosophical and intellectual all the time. I love it, but sometimes you just need to read fluffy teen books. You know what I mean?

Anyway, I am ready to finish up some craft projects this summer, read my fill of cheesy fiction/fantasy books and watch all the ridiculous comedy movies I've been missing because of school. Never thought I'd say this, but Friday May 13th can't come soon enough. It'll be my lucky day. :)

My Brilliant Plan is Falling Apart

I may have told some of you, but my plan for grad school was for me to be done by May 2012. The program is 33 hours long (including the final capstone class/project). I started school last August, and my goal was to finish with school as fast as I could. Here was my plan:

Take 6 credit hours (so not quite full-time for a grad student, that'd be 9 hours) for every semester except for one semester in which I'd have to brave 3 more credit hours and be a full-time student working full-time. I'd go without a break, meaning I'd take classes during the summer as well. But, it'd be okay because I'd graduate by May 2012.

That plan is now quickly falling apart.

Why? Because my program is not offering any classes this summer. I had not accounted for this, and now my plan is going to have to be this:

I'm taking one 3 hour elective class over the summer (hopefully I can get that approved since it's outside of my prescribed electives for my program), and then I'm taking a full-time student class load of 9 hours for both Fall and Spring semesters so that I can still graduate by May 2012.

In other words....

By this time next year, I might be dead.

Ok, I'm being dramatic, but I seriously am freaking out about how I'm going to be able to handle a full-time class load with working full-time. I could spread it out, but I can't tell you how bad I want to be done by next May. I have a count down already. I want... nay, NEED, to be done by then. I HAVE TO BE!!!!

Lots of people have done it right? I can do it. I CAN do it... I hope.