Life in the Cheese Drawer

i got an email today from a classmate from gradeschool! last time i saw her i went to her wedding in 2002 (i think) and the time i saw her before that was in 1994 (?). Nicki Bibus (now Christianson). SO WEIRD. she googled my name and went to my website. her hubby makes violins for a living, which i think is so cool! anyway, that’s my random post of the day.

i got my final exam paper topics on monday. i have books and stuff for one of the three questions. i have to finish all three papers in the next three days.
why?
of course, everything i could have possibly scheduled is scheduled in the next two weeks. next weekend is flogging molly. my tuesdays are absolutely full to the gills. next monday (not this monday), when the papers are due, i have an interview in white bear lake. today i drove to marshall for a secret shopper (worth $100!!!), and that took all day. so, in the next three days, i must find 30+ sources and write 18-24 pages of crapola.
YAY! (/sarcasm)
the end is in sight….i can see it. 🙂

there are a lot of international students in my classes this semester. seriously, i am one of about 5 white people in both my classes of 20. all of these students have difficulty with the english language, some worse than others. they apologize for their accents and make sure we can understand them (can you imagine being from india and having to listen to people from china talk in stilted english? oy).
now, what i would like to know is if teachers take this language deficiency into account when grading papers, or if they grade the papers like they were grading a paper written by me. do international students get a “handicap” so to speak on their papers?
now that thought of the day is done, hear this!
i need ideas. tell me to write about something. it can be anything. ask me to write aboutmy view outside my window, what i remember from age 7, my cat’s breath, whatever! i need some inspiration.

i dont’ care how dilapidated or ugly a campus is, there is nothing that comes close to the feeling of walking through a college or university campus in the fall. the sun is out, it’s chilly enough to need a light jacket, leaves rustle under your feet, and all you here is the wind rushing through deadened leaves on the tree.

if i make it past tuesday at noon, i will live forever. i am doing a presentation with this girl, and apparently she had planned the entire thing out in her head before even talking to me, so i feel like i’m along for the ride. sheesh.
so, how many of you like using powerpoint and think it’s a great addition to presentations (we’re talking 15-minute presentations, not 3-hour presentations)? this girl wants to do a PP for a 10-15-minute presentation. ehh?? i had to politely come up with a way to say, um, NO. i hope she listens. who does that, unless it’s assigned?
a) i hate making PPs. they are annoying and PP annoys me as a program.
b) i am in the camp that any visual assistance that you are using that doesn’t fall into the category of 1)you interacting with, such as a map, or 2) being a supplemental, like letting a short video clip play without commentary from you, DETRACTS from a presentation. these people are supposed to be listening to you, not staring at a screen with three bullet points on it while listening to a person drone on in the background.
maybe i’m a fuddy duddy when it comes to that. in addition to that, this is not new material. this will be a recap of a chapter the class will have read for that week. i think i’ll “forget” my laptop tomorrow and hope she doesnt’ mention anything.

so, i may not be able to graduate next semester!
they are offering the two CLASSES i need, but i cannot find the final comprehensive exam to register for it.
i am NOT a happy camper, and if i have to drag this out one more semester, i am going to cry. poo!!!

my ever-changing layouts 🙂 i joined the freelayouts community until i get a hang of CSS and the LJ coding. which may be a while.
i have a class this semester which is kind of like an independent job search. find out what you like to do, and the class basically “forces” you to do it, in an attempt for a person to finally (well, in my case at least) do what they REALLY want to do. and if the project happens to contain advocacy or minority groups in any way, all the better.
and so, you are wondering, what is it that kate really wants to do?
and, given my array of talents as shown on my website (which really isn’t an array at all, they are all quite similar and connected), this shouldn’t come as a surprise at all.
i’ve been wanting to do this since i was 12 years old (or maybe even younger), so this is why i chose to do this project for my class.
first, some background.
when my family lived in austin, it was almost inevitable that we would take a weekend during the autumnal season and drive around soant (if i took a pic of a plant), and perhaps a bit of memoir in and out where it was appropriate.
and that, apparently, is my dream job.
it combines:
photography
writing
layout (graphic design)
travel
which, coincidentally, are the top four things i would love to do with my life.
sadly, quitting my current cruddy hell-hole of a job and taking on a risk that huge is somewhat daunting. could something like this actually make a living (i mean, who would buy a book like that, outside of my family and friends??)
oh, what to do. and such a long post to figure out my life. (i suppose when figuring out one’s life, the post shouldn’t be short?)

for one of my grad classes, each person has to do a 90-minute presentation on one aspect of the media (print, film, television, advertising, PR, etc) and apply critical thinking we’ve learned in class to said media. this is a pretty open-ended project – the possibilities are endless.
well, they say, do what you know. do you think this is extremely too dorky and shows what a huuuge nerd i am? doing my presentation on applying a feminist critique on xena? it would be a) fun for me b) easy to apply the thinking to c) easy to present on for 90 minutes. is that TOO dorky or do you think it would go over well?
the internet abounds with helpful guides on feminism in xena.
well?

i love it when i make a profit on a book. i bought one of my books for the past semester online and paid $45 for it. i sold it back today for $63.
🙂
best thing ever!
also had a company xmas party tonight and got a bonus of $224
woohoo!
it was a $300 day!