Hey! I can hear you, you know...
Besides, I don't have to explain myself to you. It makes sense in my head.
But I'll explain anyways.
As far as academic days go...
Classes are getting...well...classy. And I don't mean classy as in fancy. I mean classy as in it's not so easy anymore, because the first round of exams hit, and a pattern I've noticed in school is that up until the first round of exams, you can kind of breeze by. But, as soon as that first exam hits, you have to be on your toes for the rest of the semester because it's really easy to fall behind on school work. So, the first round hit...
...me right in the face.
Okay, it wasn't that bad. But I did have 3 of them last week, Tuesday through Thursday, plus a project due on Friday, so it wasn't the most fun week I've ever had. They weren't too difficult though, which was a plus.
Also, my kindergartners are crazy. They're cute and fun, but when they start dropping their water bottles and they shatter and they start putting their hands in the stamp pads and getting ink everywhere, well...let's just say my patience wears thin. I understand that they're young and are learning, but I just know that kindergarten isn't for me. However, it is cool that a lot of the things my students are doing in class correlate to my children's literacy class, so I like being able to transfer what I learn in my class to their class.
Speaking of that class...
We've been discussing the importance of "language experience," a term that refers to giving students exposure to language if they haven't really had it before. One way to do this is to have a student tell you a story and you as the teacher write it down and create a little book for them to illustrate, and then they can work on reading it. Well, my professor is the type of woman who teaches us as if we are first graders since she used to be a first grade teacher. (It's not in a demeaning way, but rather a way to model how we should act in a first grade classroom). So, she wanted to show the class and example of how to do this. She knew about my obsession with cats, so she had me be the example and had me tell her about my cat, Smokey, so she could write it down. I then had to color it and everything, as if I was in first grade. It was so funny!
As far as Starry Nights go...
Every year, one of the church organizations at Purdue puts on a super hipster art and music festival called Starry Night. It reminds me a little of the Sugar Creek Arts Festival in Normal, but this one's at night. The gist is that local artists set up little stands and sell the things they've created, and also some hipster bands play. Oh, and the Starry Night name is in part because, well, it's at night, but also because they have strings of Christmas lights above it all, making it look really cool and hipster-y. Jess, Dana, Kristen, and I went together to check it out and listen to the bands (which were pretty good!) and observe the crafts. It was a good time if you ask me. And even if you don't ask me, it was still a good time.
On our walk back to Shreve, we saw some guys slack-lining. Basically, this is a tight-rope type thing that is tied between two trees and you try to walk across it. Well, it's been on my mental bucket list to try this, so I just went up to these strangers (don't worry, I had other people with me, I wasn't going to get kidnapped) and asked if maybe I could try it. They were kinda odd people, but they let me! I mean, I couldn't do it without holding onto people, but I still made it across without falling! It was a nifty experience.
Starry Night
Roomiessss
Slack-lining!
As far as togas go...
Fairway threw a toga party last night! So, Dana, Laura, and I donned bedsheets and went to dance. Granted, it took us a solid 30 minutes or more to properly toga up, what with trying to figure out how to wrap them, how to fold them correctly, how to pin them, what to wear underneath, and how to access the phones in our pockets once our togas were on all the way. But, it ended as a success, and we had a good time dancing. We also played some water-pong while we were there (I sucked), and guess what else?
I OFFICIALLY MET MAURICIO, THE ATTRACTIVE ZUMBA INSTRUCTOR.
To refresh your memory, when I took Zumba classes last semester, there was an instructor named Mauricio who was very attractive and a very good dancer and I was kinda sorta in love with him if you could be in love with a guy you'd never spoken a word to before. I never met him, besides that time I shook his hand during church, but I quietly pined after him all last year. Well, while at the toga party, Dana introduced us because her friend was Mauricio's roommate! I almost freaked out. She didn't know, however, that I was obsessed with him, so she was just casually introducing us. But I flipped out afterwards and said she should totally hook us up on some double dates. Uh, yes.
As far as other stuff goes that wasn't listed in the title of this post...
Meow:
My friend Kristen got a cat! ...Except her apartment complex doesn't allow cats. So they're keeping it there illegally, but it's super cute! ...Kinda. It's a Persian, and seriously looks like it ran full force into a wall and its face just went flat, but a cat is a cat and I love cats. They named it Mochi, and it was Kristen's boyfriend's cousin's cat, but they were moving to Australia and couldn't bring it with. I decided I was going to be its fun aunt, so I went over and visited it for awhile. It's so fuzzy! I love it!
Parade:
Sydney, Kristen, Becca, and I went to the Homecoming parade last night. The homecoming theme is the '90s, so there were some cool, '90s themed floats. I got a ton of candy too because I knew a lot of people in the parade...and because I was that lame college student cheering for the Girl Scouts. Hey, we gotta stick together, even if I dropped out after 6th grade.
Discrimination Ice Cream Social:
Shreve put on this "Discrimination Ice Cream Social" event. They didn't give many details, but Erin, a girl on my floor, and I went down to check it out, because we were promised free ice cream. While we were in line, Erin was trying to decide if she wanted chocolate or vanilla ice cream, but the scoopers said chocolate, because you're a girl. We thought it was a joke at first, but come to find out, it was part of the event. Vanilla for boys, chocolate for girls. Caramel syrup for people wearing pants, chocolate for shorts. M&Ms for those with tennis shoes, none for flip flops and sandals. Sprinkles for contacts/glasses, none for the rest. So we then found out what it meant by discrimination ice cream. They had a debrief after getting your ice cream so we could talk about how we felt and why we shouldn't discriminate and things like that, but we ditched because we just wanted the ice cream.
The Exponent:
I worked my first 2 days as copy editor at the Exponent! And let me tell you, what an interesting experience that has been. Guess how many stories I'm able to edit in 3 hours?
3.
Yeah. I know. Talk about a speed reader over here...
Haha no, but it's not just reading through a story and making sure it sounds right. It's reading a story and correcting it for spelling and grammar and style and are the names spelled correctly and are the facts right and are there dangling modifiers and does it even make sense and is it in AP style and is it libelous and holy cow, who knew it could be so tedious? The sports stories are the worst. The players and coaches' names must be spelled right, their records must be correct, the dates of the games must be right, and the statistics too. It's rough trying to look all that up. However, it's rewarding to see the story published in the next day's Exponent. I feel pretty proud then. The other plus is that it's a paid position and there's a real live old fashioned clocking in machine, which a punch card and everything! It's pretty legit.
Another thing about the Exponent? Every Friday is what I affectionately call "Nerd Club" where all Exponent staff are welcome to join our news adviser, Carl, in the conference room to fix the ridiculous error-laden sentences he creates. We literally sit there for an hour and correct sentences. On a Friday afternoon. Hah. But we do get candy for it, and the sentences are funny because he makes them about the staff. My name was actually in some of the sentences this week! I was pretty excited to be a part of the "in" crowd, even if the sentence was, "Arnett Clinic welcomes Doctor Kasey Kaisershot, expert on men and other diseases."
Annie Boo:
My friend Annie and I worked on a project together last weekend at her apartment, and since she lives in town, she invited me to her house for dinner with her family! Hooray for home-cooked meals and steak! Shout-out to the Dooleys for being so awesome and hospitable!
Our project was to read a Big Book out loud to each other and film it, as if we were teachers reading to a class of little kids. It was really funny, and we had quite a few bloopers. They're on YouTube if you think you wanna search for them...
Family Weekend:
I LOVE MY FAMILY!! Mama, dad, and sissy came up yesterday for Family Day at Purdue, bringing a huge bucket of cookies, puppy chow, candy, and other goodies. We went to the NIU vs. Purdue football game (where we lost pathetically) and Kourt stood in the student section with Annie and I and some other friends. After the game (which we didn't stay for since it was so hard to watch), my fam took Annie, Jess, and I to Chili's for an early dinner, and it was delish! We hung out for awhile and then went to the Silver Dipper for ice cream. I would say that I miss them already, except I will be seeing them for the next 2 weekends :) All in all, it was a good day. Until...
Sissy <3
Saturday night fiasco:
Since Saturday Night Live was on last night, I was going over to Annie's to watch it with her. However, as I get in my car, it wouldn't start. The engine wouldn't turn over. Crap. Annie drove over to see if she could help me jump it. As soon as she pulled up, this is what went down:
Me: How do I pop the hood? I can't find the latch up front here...
Annie: I can't either. It's different than mine.
Me: Okay, got it!
Annie: Okay, jumping a car...do you know what you're doing?
Me: Nope!
Annie: Me either. I'll Wikipedia it.
Me: Okay, I'll YouTube it.
Hahahaha okay, I know that sounds really dumb. We both knew the basics (red to red, black to black), but we didn't know the fine details, like which order to start the cars and how long they needed to run. As we were trying to figure this out, 3 guys came over and saw us struggling and asked if we needed help. What was their first clue...?
They hooked up the cables and were super nice, saying they were in the army and the one guy always works with engines. However, after it didn't work, they said that it wasn't the battery that was the problem, but something else. They were really funny and said things like, "See all these parts in the engine? It could be any number of things wrong with it." They were really nice and apologized for not being able to help.
I tried it again this morning with no luck, so I tried to call a towing company to take me to a mechanic, but nobody was open and I was really frustrated. So now I have to take care of that tomorrow...yay...
Creeper shot of the guys trying to fix my car
Hope everyone has a fantastic week! My advice to you (and to myself!): Think positively :)
XOXO
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