Grades

Highlight of the day: Getting my health test back with "Highest in the class" on the top of it.

Car Fever

I think I’ve come down with Car Fever. Searching for a new car for Jolene has brought on a severe case of it. As much as I hate the search part of it, I’ve still got Car Fever.

Each time I roll down my crank windows, I long for a new car. I’m sure that the people watching me roll down my window, the ones that aren’t aware that there is such a thing as crank windows, think “That sure must be a groovy song, to get that kind of bobbing out of her.” My dream is to be able to roll down the rear passenger window from my seat, while driving. If I ever get a new car, I think I’ll just ride around with that back passenger window open, roll it up and down several times each trek…just because I can.

Three weeks ago, the odometer on my car turned over to 170,000 on my way home from church. Another large digit closer to The Big Breakdown. My ’96 Dodge Stratus has been fairly reliable for the five years and ten months that I’ve had it. I have fixed three or four oil leaks and a transmission leak and a cracked head (or something like that, it sounded painful, whatever it was) but other than that, it’s only been regular maintenance. I try to ignore the fact that the odometer and tachometer come and go at will.

On Thursday, I stopped at the house for a few minutes on my way to school and, as I left the house, my car refused to shift out of first gear. It has happened a few other times but it’s been a long time. Usually, a half-mile down the road it will grudgingly shift and after that everything is fine. This time, there was no shifting to be had and I couldn’t go above 40 mph without blowing the engine up. I called home and asked mom if I could take her van and she said I could. I raced back home (as much as you can race in first gear at 40 mph) and put all of my necessary junk in her van and took off for school.

Martin checked the car out that afternoon and declared it an electrical problem due to the lack of odometer and tachometer. I informed him that that particular problem has been occurring for quite a while. I would just rather keep my $300-400 than to be able to see my mileage at all times. As long as it keeps up with the mileage and checks in every once in a while, I’m happy. The car still wouldn’t shift when Martin drove it, so that night I took the car to the Ford/Dodge dealership and dropped it off. And don’t you know, on my way to the dealership, the car shifted just fine. I took it anyway since I can’t have that happening at random. When I need to get somewhere, I need to get there in the time that I’ve allotted, not 30 minutes later.

The dealership checked things out and said they couldn’t find a thing wrong with it. Go figure!! I was really annoyed at myself when, after I had the car back, I thought about the fact that I’ve got a safety recall notice on my car that I should have gotten taken care of while I was there anyway. But, no, I mustn’t make life too easy for myself, getting that done at the same time would have just been too easy.

I was recently discussing my car with Alvin and telling him of my need for it to last another four or more years, at least ‘til I drop out of/flunk out of/finish with college. His prediction: It won’t happen. I’m hoping he’s wrong but things aren’t boding too well at this point.

I must learn “…in whatsoever car I am, therewith to be content.” Philippians 4:11.

Making A Splash

After some consideration, I decided to take on More Water Consumption as my Health Behavior Change Project. We had to make a statement, in measurable terms, as to what our goal was. Mine was "I will drink four 16 oz bottles of water a day." If I'm able to do this, I will get the recommended 64 oz of water a day. Before we implemented the change, we had to pick three days and track the behavior so we could know what our current patterns were. The three days I kept track, I drank between 30 to 45 oz of water along with a few other miscellaneous drinks.

On Monday (yesterday), I implemented my change, taking 4 bottles of water to work with me. I managed to drink two and was well into the third before I left work at 4:00. I took the remaining bottle with me and drank it on the way to class. Today has not been so successful. I only managed to drink 3 bottles before my class at 3:30 and, since I cannot drink water in my Music class, I wasn't able to finish the fourth bottle while it was still cool. That bottle of water now sits on my desk next to a glass of ice. I'll see if I can't drink the remaining 4 oz. before I go to bed.

I'm beginning to think I know how a pregnant woman feels. I use the bathroom before I leave work, stop in at home and use it before heading on to Bowling Green to class, find the nearest bathroom when I get to the building, find the nearest bathroom when I get to my next class, etc. I find it difficult to sleep through the entire night. Pathetic!!

I got out of Music early today and, since I was so very tired of water, I stopped at Sonic for a good old root beer. I got to South Campus and (after stopping at the bathroom) took my drink and backpack into the classroom. Mr. D was explaining some concepts to some of my classmates that had arrived early and I was listening as I made my way to my table. I went to put my drink on the table and missed it!! The drink fell to the floor and the flimsy styrofoam bottom broke right out. Root beer everywhere! I was so dismayed. Donna, one of my favorites in the class, jumped up and ran to the bathroom for some paper towels. Mr. D brought me the trashcan and I put my broken glass into the trashcan. I headed to the bathroom for paper towels as well. After 5 trips for paper towels, I had the floor relatively dry, although not sticky free. I was very subdued and vowed that I shall not take another fountain drink to class with me. A screw-on lid or not at all. I guess there is a reason they prefer that we don't take drinks to class with us.

I should be studying for my Health test tomorrow but, here I am, procrastinating. I find it very easy to find other things to do in lieu of homework/studying.

Finding Nemo...On Ice

I'm feeling the need to square my shoulders and get ready for week ahead of me. I had a delightful two hour nap this afternoon and I'm hoping that it will make up for some of the deficiencies of the coming week. I had a dreadful time staying awake last week both at work & at school. I especially struggled on Tuesday & Wednesday nights so on Thursday I had some Mountain Dew on my way to school to try to combat the sleepiness. I guess it worked because I didn't have near the problems that evening.

Late Friday afternoon, I suddenly remembered that Disney's Finding Nemo On Ice was going to be in Nashville this weekend so I called Kris to see if she was interested in going. We had talked about it several weeks back and decided to go but hadn't really discussed it since then. After a bit of phone tag, I got ahold of Kris and we decided that, if we could get tickets, we would go.

I got home around 5:15 and Kris got home around 5:30. We quickly got ready and left the house at 5:45 for a 7:00 show. We knew we were cutting it close timewise. We weren't 100% sure of exactly how to get to the Gaylord Entertainment Center but had been there last year for a Women of Faith conference so we knew the general area. The main concern was where we would park. Well, as luck would have it, we ran right into a traffic jam. It cost us some more of our precious time and we arrived right at 7:00. With the circumstances of the lateness & unfamiliarity with the area not being in our favor, we just parked in the rip-off $10 parking right next to the GEC.

It's so aggravating!! You find the cost of the tickets and think, "Hmm...not too bad", then you go to purchase the tickets and they hit you up with about $7 per ticket of convenience fees and, by this time, you've committed yourself emotionally to see the show so you bite the bullet and pay the convenience fees. Then you arrive and you've already invested so much in the tickets that you can't let a mere $10 parking fee turn you away, so you pay it. What starts out as a $15 show can more than double in price. And the poor parents...they get hit with all sorts of vendors and how can you deny the children the things that they desire?

Kris & I had wanted to take Hannah, the 4 year-old that mom babysits, to the show but she was already planning to go to her grandmother's place for the weekend. It may have been a good thing because I'm not sure how she would have reacted to all of the vendors. And I'm not sure how we would have reacted to her begging if it had come to that. I mean, it's not like we are used to having to say "No" to little children.

Anyway, it was worth going to see the show. It was really a neat show. They had black lights in the ceiling so it made the neon on the skaters and props really neon. It had a nifty effect on the crowd too. I've never been to any of the "on ice" shows and so I didn't really know what to expect. I'm always amazed how a whole show, that in a movie takes many sets and locations, can take place in such a small area. Nifty!!

Seating Arrangements

After having a week off from my English class (Labor Day), I found myself in the basement of Cherry Hall again on Monday night.

Things are always very quiet in the room until Nicole arrives. Nicole sits in front of me and my first impression of her was not very good. The first impression was one of a blond, ditsy, gushy kind of girl that thought she was cute and was sure everyone else would too. My appreciation of her has come from the fact that she does talk and doesn’t mind voicing her opinion. She seems to have a more conservative view on certain issues for which I'm grateful.

Well, Nicole arrived and if I hadn’t heard her speak, I wouldn’t have recognized her for who she is. In the two weeks since I had seen her, she had gone from a blond to a brunette.

There seems to be a certain phenomenon in which people sit where they sat for the first class every time that they come to class. As the class got started, Mr. C was discussing this particular trait in people and was telling us that it happens not only with young students but when teachers have classes for continuing education, they also sit in the same place every time. He said that you can almost always tell if someone is sitting in someone else’s seat by their expression when they walk into the room. Mr. C pointed out the few people that weren’t in their normal spots and had just stopped to take a breath, when Sheila arrived, late for class. (Sheila was the “You Amish?” girl.) Now it just so happens that Sheila is a very hefty girl and she always sits at one of the three tables in the room. The rest of the room is filled with the traditional individual desks. It just so happens that on this particular day, another girl had sat at Sheila’s place at the table and as Sheila entered the room, she stopped short, looked at the girl in her chair and said, “Well, damn!” We all started laughing and Sheila, oblivious to everything, plopped down at the table with her back to the front of the room.

It didn’t take Mr. C long to tell Sheila that she would have to move to the back table because he just can’t teach someone that has their back to him. Somewhat unimpressed, she came and sat at the table, right next to my desk. And so started a very long night.

Now I always try to be a very good student and pay attention to what the teacher is saying. You never know, they might say something that you need to know for the test. Well, right away, Sheila whispers to me, “Do I stink?” Now, what kind of question is that?!? I tried to pretend that I hadn’t heard, but she whispered it again, a bit louder this time.

“Um, I don’t smell anything,” I said, trying hard not to sniff too deeply. Who wants to tell someone that they stink?

“I don’t stink?” she said.

“I don’t smell anything,” I said…again. By this time I was almost afraid to breathe for fear that I would smell something.

“I don’t mean my arms,” she said. “Do I stink like smoke?”

Again. “I don’t smell anything,” I whispered and quickly faced the front of the room, hoping to stop the discussion.

Ahead of us, Nicole got some candy out and pulled a piece out for herself. “Can I get one?” Sheila asked in a loud whisper. Nicole didn’t hear her and put it away without hearing her the second time she asked.

Sheila wanted to get Nicole’s attention for some reason a bit later. Nicole was wearing a t-shirt that had a number on the back and the name Trey above the number, sort of like a football jersey. “Trey!” Sheila whispered loudly. No response. “Trey!!” Again, no response. I was highly amused by this time but didn’t bother to tell her that Nicole’s name is not Trey and several more times still didn’t get her attention. I’m sure that Nicole had long forgotten what was on the back of her t-shirt. Sheila finally gave up, probably assuming that Nicole was half deaf.

We were reviewing run-on sentences and sentence fragments. In our previous class, we had been given five different ways to correct run-on sentences. Our homework assignment was to choose five out of ten sentences to correct. We had to use a different rule for each sentence resulting in a total of five rewritten sentences. Mr. C stressed the instructions twice that we didn’t have to do all ten sentences five ways each, just five sentences using a different rule per sentence.

Well, Evan was the lucky guy that wasn’t listening when Mr. C stressed his instructions the second time. At the beginning of class, Mr. C gave us a paper to read while he went around to check and make sure that we had all done our homework correctly. He got to Evan and Evan said, “Um, I couldn’t quite come up with five different sentences for each sentence.” Mr. C was highly amused, as were the rest of us. “And where were you when I gave the instructions?” he asked Evan. “Uh, probably talking,” Evan said sheepishly. (Evan sits across the aisle from Nicole and they have a tendency to talk when they shouldn’t.) Needless to say, Evan got picked on more than once during the class.

We went into reviewing the use of colons and semicolons. Mr. C gave us some sentences and told us that, rather than taking the time to rewrite the whole sentence, we should just write the word that the semicolon or colon comes after and then we would go over it. I started into it and knew immediately that I had a problem just to my right. I could feel Sheila staring at me. She knew something was up because Mr. C had quit talking and everyone seemed to be busy. After staring at me for a full 30 seconds, “What are we supposed to be doing?” came my way. I quickly told her what I was doing and resumed my work. She went to work and quickly finished and then looked at me and said, “You ain’t done yet?” Hello!?! I like to actually be correct if I’m called upon!! I need to comprehend what I read!! I just shook my head and finished up in short order.

Mr. C went around the room calling on various people to give their answers. Some of them chose to read the whole sentence while others just said the word. Mr. C asked some of them to read theirs and others he did not. Well, when he called on me, I chose to just say the word. I could feel her eyes upon me again. Sigh! “You don’t like to read out loud, do you?” was the loudly whispered pronouncement. Excuse me!! I don’t need people to sit around analyzing me!! I can be introverted if I want to. I quickly shook my head and went back to trying to pay attention. The Eyes stayed upon me for a bit longer before they returned to the front of the room. The thing that made the Eyes upon me even worse was that she was wearing this pair of sunglasses that are basically clear but have a mirror finish to them. Who likes to try to meet The Eyes, only to get a glimpse of themselves instead?

I discovered that Sheila has the ability to attach herself to other people’s opinions. As we discussed the various sentences and the reading assignments that had been given, if someone made a statement that she liked, she’d say, “That’s what I think.” Never did I hear an original statement come out of her mouth and yet she talks all of the time. As we were going over some of the rewritten sentences, she wildly waved her hand, wanting to share one of her sentences. Mr. C finally called upon her for a particular sentence and she wanted to give an example that we had gone over three sentences back. Mr. C stopped her and told her that when we finished the sentence we were on, he’d come back to her and let her share. She finally got her opportunity and, poor girl, the sentence she wanted so desperately to share, was wrong.

I’m hoping that Sheila gets to class on time next week and reclaims her seat.

Getting Whacked

After I got home from work yesterday, I hopped on the mower and started mowing my yard. I managed to finish it before dark and started working on Mom & Dad's yard. I got all of the big patch, where the garden used to be, done but it was fairly dark by the time I finished. I thought that maybe I could see well enough to get most of the back yard done and started mowing around the perimeter.

I decided that to cut short on time, I would just mow as close to the guy wire as possible instead of doing a complete circle around it. I had pushed the mower up against the guy wire and was just getting ready to back off when it popped free of what was pushing it and came back and whacked me on my right temple. It certainly was a stunning moment. Talk about an instant headache!!

As I finished the round that I was on, my imagination went to work. I got to thinking about what would have happened if I didn't have such a thick skull and it had knocked me out. What does a ZTR mower do if the person in the drivers seat becomes unconscious? If they fall forward, then forward you shall go. What if you fall off and the thing goes in circles? It could mow a person's arm or leg off before anyone in the house knows what is going on. It's not like anyone ever checks on me when I'm mowing but then who ever heard of getting knocked out while mowing?? I came to the conclusion that mowing in the dark is not the brightest idea I'd ever had. I finished my round and put the mower away.

I'd had a dull headache ever since Thursday evening and the whacking just made it worse. After an hour or so, it finally dawned on me that I can take something for it so I took some Aleve. It made it all better. I'm not sure why I never think of taking something for my aches and pains.

Tests

Today I took my first tests. It was a good thing that the boss was out of the office today. I did all of my work and then studied for two hours before I left for school. I was listening to the required music pieces, pacing around the office, reciting stuff to myself, using my flyswatter as a gesturing tool...it wouldn't have looked good to someone watching. Only two of the guys were in the shop so it was fairly quiet and there was only once that one of them walked in, but you can never tell where the secretary is headed when you walk in the office, can you?

The very first test was in Music Appreciation. This test was originally scheduled for the end of this month but, because of a lack of TV projector and reworking his teaching schedule, Mr. G rescheduled for the very day that my first Algebra exam was scheduled. Let's just say that Stress & I...well, we're getting to be well acquainted. I've been at the campus library until 10 or 11 for the past two nights and then didn't get to bed until 1:00 both nights. It's not too conducive to being to at work on time.

The plus in the situation was that because of the reschedule, Mr. G reviewed us, which he normally does not do, and gave us a study guide. He told us that we would have to identify ten pieces orally and told us that we needed to know what form each piece was. Well, I just couldn't figure it out so I e-mailed him for some clarification. He replied and, dense old me, I still couldn't figure it out so last night at 12:30 I sent a desperate e-mail with what I had and asked him to correct and fill in the blanks. He actually replied this morning, Bless Him!! He asked before class if I had received the e-mail and I said I had and that I had been desperate. He told me not to sweat the small stuff. Not sweat the small stuff!! If he hadn't given me that information, I would have probably missed at least 10 points right off the top, unless I had just happened to guess correctly. It is very important that I do well in each and every test in this class. If I have an A at the end of the semester as well as three extra credits for attending three performances, I won't have to take the final exam. Now wouldn't that be fantastic!! I think I did pretty well on the test. There were 4 that I was unsure of and had to guess but that should still give me a 92 if I didn't have a brain-hiccup elsewhere.

I was out of that class in 30 minutes so I had to kill a bit of time before heading to South Campus for my Algebra class. Now this Algebra class is something else. For one thing, I've discovered that Math is no longer my best subject like it was in grade school. This class has been the Great Deception revealer for me. It makes me feel like I'm having a Senior Moment every time I turn around. The negative numbers sneak up on me every time. Who would have thought that a negative sign would be so hard to deal with? I think that one of my problems is that I don't ask for enough clarification in class. I kinda think that having guys in the class intimidates me and the guys never ask questions, only the women do. Back when I went to the tech school, I went to class with pretty much just women. I'm slowly getting comfortable enough to ask more questions. By now, they probably think of me as the dunce in the bonnet. I think it would be good if I went and got some tutoring, but who has time for tutoring??

Kris & I went to a workshop last week on the TI-83 calculator. The man that taught the workshop, that's my kind of teacher. He roamed the aisles looking for people that looked vacant and then he would squat down in front of them (me) and talk you out of the vacancy. He would abandon the project until everyone was back on the same page. I'm going to see if I can maybe sneak into his College Algebra class when I take it.

Anyway, back to the test...on Tuesday night, Mr. D gave us a study guide that had about 30 to 40 problems on it. He told us that if we can work those problems, we'll do just fine on the test because he will take about 25 of those exact problems and use them for the test, same numbers and everything. How cool is that?!? He then helped those that wanted help working on the study guide. We even worked several of the problems out just before class today and then turned around and worked them out on the test. One problem in particular would have been a disaster for me if we hadn't worked it out just before class.

There were only two people left in class when I handed my paper in and he asked me if I'd like for him to grade it real quick. I thought that would be fine so I hung around while he graded it. And don't you know, every problem that I got wrong...it was the negative numbers that hung me up. I still got partial credit for the problems because I showed my work. I'm just grateful that the two tests are in the past.

Highlight of the day: Walking away from the second test.

Music Interpretation

Today in music class, Mr. G was playing some pieces for us and, while they were playing, we were to analyze them and write down what we thought that the composer was trying to portray. After each piece, he would pace around the room and randomly pick names from his list and ask them what they thought of the music and they would have to read their analysis of the piece. I always feel quite goofy trying to analyze music and interpret what they are wanting me to feel.

Well, the first piece seemed to go okay and everyone seemed to have the same type of interpretation…peaceful, calm, soothing, etc. Then he played Transcendental Etude No. 10 in F Minor by Franz Liszt. The first girl thought that it was calm and rather cheerful. Mr. G thought her analysis was “quite interesting.” Then he asked another guy what he thought and Jeffrey thought that it reminded him of a busy spring day. “Hmm, very interesting!” was the pronouncement.

By this time, I was a bit dismayed because that didn’t match my analysis at all and I was very dismayed that people outright laughed at his analysis. It certainly hadn’t reminded me of a spring day but I wasn’t about to laugh at him. You know, what goes around, comes around…and stuff. And sure enough, he paced right in my direction and looked directly at me. “Sharon, what did you think?”

Oh, boy!! “Well,” I said, “I thought it seemed rather unsettled and not peaceful at all.”

Mr. G paused and looked at me and said, “It’s interesting that you say that (*pause*) …because that is just the way it makes me feel.” Score!! Then he expounded on how with Franz Liszt’s music, he can only handle about one piece at a time. He compared it to fudge and how you look forward to a piece and really enjoy it but if you had to eat half a pound…well, it would simply make you sick. Boy, I was sure glad I hadn’t laughed.