School is Murder and Other Tales of Woe

Well, I said I would not put these in any particular order, and I feel like it's time to begin ranting about school since there are only two weeks left in the quarter. (I have such impeccable timing... not.) I really just wanted to post this so I could say "School is murder... oh yeah, and dead week is coming up soon, so watch out!" Yes, I have an odd sense of humor. I blame my father.

As for school, my complaints are as follows:

• I just got over the stress of giving a 5 minute speech in Japanese class, only to learn that i have a speaking test next week and a final the week after that.
• I have to put together a video for my Communications class group  because apparently I'm the only one who knows how to use Windows Movie Maker.

...I can't think of anything else. Yeah. Well, those two things seem like enough to me. I really don't have the time to be writing this, but I wanted to get my stress off my chest and make you all feel bad for me. ("You all" being the 5 or 6 people who actually bother to read this thing.)

So, first Japanese: I was a dork and procrastinated. The whole stress issue was really my fault. I just hate talking in a foreign language if I'm being graded. It's not bad if I'm just trying to communicate, because people tend to be more forgiving than someone who is giving you a grade based entirely on how well you can communicate in a language you've only been practicing for about two and a half years.

In other words: "I'M GONNA DIE!!!!!"   (My famous phrase that I frequently utilize rather than say "I'm nervous" or "I would rather not do public speaking in a foreign language" or even "I don't really like getting up in front of my Model United Nations team and giving an impromptu speech about China's opinion on Least Developed Landlocked Countries (LDLCs).")

That's like grading a FIRST GRADER on their speech-giving skills! Most of the time when first graders give speeches it's "show and tell" and they get a big ribbon even if all they did was stand up on the stage and twirl their hair for five minutes! When we have a vocabulary (approximately) equivalent to a first grader, why can't our speeches be graded along a similar curve? I mean, yes I am not a first grader, but if I only have the ability to talk like one, can't you cut me a little slack? I may mess up some grammar. I may accidentally use the wrong word. But aren't I cute? Watch me twirl my hair!

Okay, enough of that. On to topic two:

COM 201 is a media studies class and we were assigned to do a group video project. My group has 4 people in it including me. I volunteered to make the video, even though it will probably take me between 5 and 7 hours to complete, plus I will be narrating the poor dear. (Trust me, the quality WILL be poor.)

As if this weren't bad enough, none of the other group members knew how to convert their own videos (add another hour of video conversions and downloading youtube videos or google images to my list of time-consuming activities). But hey, at least they would show up to the meetings and wrote their scripts. The last group member has dropped off the grid without leaving so much as a line of script for me to use in narration, and I don't have any vidoes or pictures from them. And even that much wouldn't be too huge of a deal if it weren't due TWO DAYS FROM NOW.

Yes. Let the stress begin............... Now, I know you're probably wondering why I would be writing this when I should be working on that video of doom and despair, but I kind of have stress up to my eyeballs and I need to release some tension somehow, and I've actually found this blog to be rather cathartic. Now, I don't put all of my thoughts here, (I usually talk things out with God and he and I work through most of my struggles together) but I do enjoy talking at the people who take the time to read this, and I wasn't particularly specific about why I was so busy in my last entry. And yes, I know it's only been about 2 days when I'd waited an entire 2 (or was it three?) weeks before updating last time.

But I never claimed to have a proper schedule, so I guess that's all right. Then again, if I gave myself a proper schedule I'd be more likely to keep it. But that would take all the spontaneity out of my blog and then I'd probably not have as much fun writ(rant)ing in it.

So, there you have it. School is murder, and other tales of woe. BEWARE THE DEAD WEEK!!!!

Signed,
               That person who irregularly updates her blog, the infamous and ineffable Rahib*.



*Apparently "Rahib" is what my first name looks like in my signature. This nickname was bestowed upon me by my kind father two winters ago. He felt obligated to parade about the house demanding who "Rahib" was and why they had signed our Christmas cards... the rest is history.

No, seriously, it should be history by now. But somehow it stuck...

No Time Right Now...

That seems like a horrible thing to say to my blog. "Sorry, but I just don't have the time right now."

...It's kinda' true. As things stand, I am trying to finish up homework and I will then begin writing with my writing buddy, and then I will go to bed and get up at 7:30. Meh. I just love morning classes. (Breathe in that delicious scent of sarcasm, boys and girls. Ain't it lovely?)

And there is so much that has happened since I last updated, so I feel a little overwhelmed. I shall attempt to devote a post to each-ish (depending on how much I end up writing) but for now I'll just give you a teaser of what is to come (in no particular order):

• Awesome Birthday Weekend With 'Couv Buddies
• Week of Man "Date"
• School is Murder and Other Tales of Woe
•  House Elections - My New Officer Position/Responsibilities
• Writing Buddy!

So yeah. Lots and lots to talk about and precious little time. Until next time, you shall have to be satisfied with the statement that I have officially almost reached the fangirl stage with a LIVE HUMAN BEING. I know, I know, It's shocking, since most of my fan crazes are focused on fictional characters.

He's an amazing singer, and he is Japanese. He sings Rock music, and is part of the style known in Japan as Visual Kei, which basically means that he plays anything between soft pop-rock and hardcore rock, but he changes outfits and hair like most people change...normal clothes? Anyway, the outfits are really ridiculously overdone (which I'm not a huge fan of, personally...), but what I'm so excited about is his voice. And I'm also jealous of the fact that he's like 40 and still looks 20. I don't know if it's plastic surgery, or makeup, or just his Japanese genetics, but I am jealous.

Anyway, that is all I have to say. The end.

Oh yes, and thank you friend (you know who you are) for reminding me to update. I was going to a few days ago and it slipped my mind like a greased... egg... on a... yeah, you know what? I'm just going to end here.

Ciao!

Before Things Get Too Crazy ...

So, after writing my last entry I told myself that I would be sure to write another entry before things got too crazy.  Unsurprisingly, I've failed in my mission. I blame it on my lazy personality that resists the idea of doing any more talking about myself than absolutely necessary. I find this pretty ridiculous since I love getting into contact with my friends and family back home, but I can't bother myself to update them on how life is going in the "Emerald City." (If it were up to me, I would have called it the "Gray City," but it doesn't have quite the same ring...and it might scare away even more people than its reputation for massive amounts of rainfall already has.)

Of course, being a brilliant writer (note the sarcasm inherent in this statement), I was heartbroken to be informed by one of my friends that I'd capitalized several nouns that did not need to be capitalized, in addition to having a few silly grammar mistakes in my prior post. Originally I intended to edit the thing, but I decided that leaving my mistakes might help capture some of my personality, and make this format feel a bit more personable.

However, being new to the world of blogging, I really have no clue how to make my blog fancy or remotely personal. I have only myself to blame: I seem to know a lot about facebook and I post fanfiction on a (semi) regular basis (when I've had time to write and/or remember to update), but I have never really acquainted myself with this platform.

So prepare to be bored. I have no camera, so any pictures would need to be stolen from google images or facebook friends, and since I'm not particularly photogenic (I'm pretty sure my photobombs outnumber any good pictures 10:1), there is not a high chance of me embarrassing myself further by uploading more pictures of myself acting foolish.

On that note, I will try to talk about last quarter some, since some people may not have recieved the full update. You got the quick version, and the next few posts will probably be my foggy memories regarding a few fun (or not-so-fun) events from last quarter. Or maybe not. It all depends on my mood when I write my next post.

As things stand now, I will only say that I enjoyed my three-day weekend too much and did not study nearly enough, and now I will be forced to stay up late finishing my homework and studying for imminent tests in my third-year Japanese class...

Sometimes I hate my lazy side. This is one of those times. I'm not sure how I managed to pull mostly good grades out of last quarter with all the dorking around I did, but I'm afraid if I continue dorking this quarter, I'll get a similar grade in Japanese, which was the lowest I've ever gotten (barely a B). I shall now dismiss myself and stop wasting time, moving on to studying for Japanese since I've finished studying my communications reading and accidentally killing online quizzes. (You'll probably be hearing more on that later...)

Until next time, God bless!