College is Fun! (?)

Well, it's definitely been a little bit since I've posted last. I'd apologize, but I don't think there's anyone actually reading this anyways.

I was planning on writing a movie review on Limitless a while back. I still might. However, it's been out for a while. Really quick general thoughts, it's good. Makes you question how you feel about using performance enhancing drugs (aka steroids). I'll try and get that review up sometime soon.

So, I have a lot to talk about today. College, goals, writing, and other stuff I'm sure. So, let's just start with college.

College. Is awesome. It's a no BS deal. No special treatment to the jocks. (Not that there are any, it's a community college.) But it's so much more freedom and responsibility- which I personally love. I hate the high school teachers because they baby everyone. If you don't get an assignment done on time, you can go to the teacher, put on a puppy dog face, say the dog ate my homework, and you get an extra day to turn it in. Here, you turn it in. No exceptions. If you're absent on a day something is due. You can't turn it in. Call me crazy, but I love it.
Also, I don't even have class until 11 every day (except for Tuesdays, which start at 8am) and I don't even have school on Fridays.
You know how they say that even though you're only in class for a few hours a day, but you study the rest of it? Well, they're right. That's okay though. Because I like being able to control my own learning. You learn the stuff in class during a lecture. Take notes and all that jazz. Then you go and do the assignments and study and it's up to you to learn it.
People I tend to not like- (The whimpy-I-need-help-doing-everything-plus-a-reminder-everyday-that-I-have-assignments-due-I-want-special-treatment kind of people) Don't survive college. Generally, they just don't go. It's nice. All the people here care about being here. At least most of them.

Okay, on to the next topic. Goals. Life goals. School goals. Lots of goals. I love them. You know it. Secretly, you love them too. If you don't, you should. Currently, I've got a few goals in mind.
1) Get a car. I need a car kind of bad, now that I'm in college and all. It's really annoying to get a ride from my parents and take the bus and all that. Not that I want to park on campus, I'm not insane. However, having a car would be nice.
2) Get straight As this term. Call me crazy, but I think I can do it. Most of my classes seem a whole lot easier than my IB classes in high school. (Oh, I got a 3.8 last trimester! The only B was in my one non-IB class.)
3) Figure out what to do in life. If I like my engineering class, I might start looking at that. However, right now I'm looking at getting two associate's degrees- one in management, and the other in accounting. Then transfer to O(regon)SU to get a bachelor's in accounting. Do you know how much financial managers make a year? A lot. Like 100 grand a lot. And being a financial manager can basically guarantee me a job anywhere. Or at least some sort of management job. Fact: The general population cannot keep themselves organized without an appointed manager. I really like management, and after looking at the classes required for accounting, that looks pretty interesting too.
Then I'll start a custom car shop with Mr.Wonderful and I'll do all the management stuff for that as well as work on interiors and pinstriping. All the intricate detail-y stuff. At least that's the plan for now.

My next topic seems to be a reoccuring one. For obvious reasons. Writing. Do you know how excited I'm getting for JulNoWriMo this year? It's kind of insane. Besides the fact that I want summer to get here so I can go on the cruise. I really want to start writing my novel for JulNo. So, this year. I'm planning.
That's right. Actually planning. The entire novel. (Hopefully.) That way - because I'm missing 5 days at the start of the month - I won't fall behind and die.

And the final topic is NaBloPoMo. I think I'm going to try it again in April. Which means I have to start posting tomorrow for it. Am I crazy? Is it even possible for someone to do this? I feel like I'd have to get up and post before school every day. And weekends it will be particularly hard to post every day considering I get home at midnight every night. :/ Should I do it????

Random School Day #4: eReaders

Well, I'm in school. Again. And I'm done with my work before everyone else. Again. One day, teachers won't get surprised that I actually do my work. It still bewilders me how people don't get their stuff done when they're given the time and resources to finish it in class. Whatever. That's their problem.

The thing I want to discuss today is eReaders. I understand the convenience and all of that, but I just don't understand why you'd want them for all of your books. Personally, I take pride in looking at my bookshelf and seeing it chock full of books. If I just had an eReader, I'd most likely just have a little tiny piece of flatscreen technology that took up no space and had no meaning to me.

Let me make it clear that I do want an eReader. And after looking at all the different types out there, I want a NOOKcolor. (From Barnes and Noble, of course.) There's a lot of nice features about it that I really like including the idea of going into a book store and being able to sample books and read them for up to an hour. I think that's a really good idea. As well as being able to do things like check email. Also, it allows Pandora. Which, to me, is a huge bonus because I love Pandora.

But, here are some of the things about eReaders that I would just like to say:

Maybe I'm just a sentimental fool and take my books to seriously and personally. I probably am. Some books mean a lot to me. I write in them. Which is something I can't do with an eReader. Also, the feel and smell of an eReader is no comparison to the feel and smell of a book. And it may sound stupid, but think about it for a moment.

Also, I take pride in walking around with some big book that I'm enjoying reading. People look and think, "Wow, they are such a nerd. Look at that huge book they're reading." Or they'll even ask you what book it is, and you can get someone to read a huge book. If you're reading on an eReader, people will think, "Look at that rich person reading on their technological book." Or something similar. I like being noticed as a nerd. Again, that's probably just me.

I do understand the point of having an eReader. I'm not saying their bad. I want one myself, but I don't think they'll take over printed books. I want an eReader so I can take it on vacation with me instead of taking lots of books, and for books that I kind of like, but really don't want taking up space on my bookshelf. There are books that I will probably have a copy of in print and on an eReader. And there are some books that I will just have on print because I feel like they deserve that status.

Can you imagine, in 50 years, that there will be no libraries? Only buildings that have eBooks you can borrow. You wouldn't even have to leave your house. You could just download them for a short period of time to read it and then it'll disappear off of your eReader. Library buildings won't even exist anymore.

Random School Day #3/ Rant #1: Procrastination

I'm at school. Again. And I'm done with my stuff before everyone else. Again.

Well, I figured since I'm sitting here waiting for class to end because I have nothing to do because all my homework is done, I'd start a series of rants. Today's rant will be on procrastination. Because over the past years of my life, I have procrastinated, but lately I've found the benefits of not procrastinating.

I've never actually understood procrastination. Even when I procrastinated. I never understood it. Why do people procrastinate in the first place? It just all piles up and you have to do it later. Why make things harder on yourself when they're easy if you don't procrastinate?

I think, in my mind, I equate it to getting drunk to drink away problems. Ignoring your problems will never make them go away. If anything, it makes them worse. So why do that to yourself?

Honestly, procrastinating is just a short-term enjoyment that results in long-term stress. What do you do when you procrastinate? Watch TV? You could watch it later, or do math homework while you watch it. Hang out with friends? Well, they probably have homework or things to do as well. If they choose to procrastinate, that's their choice. That shouldn't influence how you do things. If they don't want you to succeed. Why are you friends with them?

Procrastination is bad. Don't do it. It's like a drug. Addictive and it will ruin your life. Get out now while you can.

Note: I'm actually posting this really late at night because class ended right before I posted it.

Until next time!

3 for 1: A Series of Random Duct Tape

So... through the past couple of days there were 2 posts that I was going to post, but I didn't have time to finish or just plain fell asleep before I posted it.

Post #1 (10.12.10): A Series of Unfortunate Events
Basically, this day completely and totally sucked because my internet was down only on my computer. And all my stuff was on my computer. I was up until about 2am because my internet wasn't back on until about 11pm.

Lots of conversations about life with Byron. Uh... yeah... that's about it for that day. There was more to post at the time, but I don't really remember it all.

Post #2 (10.13.10): Random School Day #2
Well, I've finished what I have to do in my math lab so I'm just sitting here doing nothing now.
We learned to use Maple today, which is basically a fairly-beastly-calculator-slash-document program. It's has all you really wished you could do on a calculator during Algebra and Pre-Calculus. It solves for variables for you and finds all the answers. You just have to be able to type it in right. Kind of like computer programming.

Rehearsals are going quite well for Sideways Stories. We only have a few days left. --

It was at this point the fire alarm went off and the school stood outside for about 20 minutes. Most of the students are under the belief there was actually a fire because that's an unusually long time to be outside for a fire drill. Our lunch was cut by 15 minutes. So we had a 15 minute lunch. That kind of sucked.

Post #3: Duct Tape! (Today)

I've discovered the art of duct tape crafts. If you go to my deviantArt page there is a wallet I made and an iPod case. I have also made a bag and a wallet for myself. The wallet I first made for myself has pink and black checkered flags and stripes (in honor of Byron's car). The bag worked out pretty well but I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. I'm unsure as to where I'll be trying it out.

Thank god tomorrow is Friday. I am so tired. So little sleep this week. It's killing me. Probably quite literally.

Oh, and I'm starting to look into scholarships and stuff like that for college. Yay real life!

Until I have time to post again!

Homework, Homework, Homework

So, I have this tagged with a bunch of labels because it just relates to so many topics. School, goals, and a little NaNoWriMo even. And some extra special news.

Today, homework is the bane of my existence. I have a lot of it. Why am I on here do you ask? Because I did homework from 3:30 to 6:30 and I'm finishing up a little break. Then right back to work. I have a lovely little book called Ishmael to finish up and write stuff on. Thank goodness that's not due until October 20th. But we have to have it read by tomorrow. I have about 50 pages to go. The real big one is finishing up my IB Environmental Systems and Societies lab. I already know I won't be getting that good of a grade, but because he won't accept anything late on this assignment I can't take more time to make it even better.

Also, I have the second half of a Jekyll and Hyde test tomorrow and an IB Calculus test. Can't you just feel my excitement overflowing? No? Didn't think so.

So, my goal is to get a 4.0 this year. Which, with all my IB classes, shouldn't be as hard. But if I can, I'll get straight A's, which is the equivalent of a 4.4 GPA. Which is amazing. Especially for me. So far, I'm well on my way to this.

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is coming up in less than a month and the hype is starting to build online as well as offline. For those who are unsure as to what this particular event is, there is a link under writing links in the sidebar. (It should be to the right of this post and down a little.) And I'm debating whether I a) have the capability of doing this this year and b) if I should even try it. I'm still thinking through what I'm going to do. But I think I'm just going to be support and help for all those NaNo-ers out there.

And the extra special news is that we have our new exchange student! She is from Ukraine and her name is Stephania. (I know it's not spelled right, I'll be correcting myself later.) I've already accomplished learning squirrel in Russian. So that brings my squirrel language count up to 6 languages.

Anyways, back to homework. This has taken way too much of my time as is.

Until next time!

Random School Day #1

Yup. I'm bored. In a computer lab. At school.
No, I'm not goofing off and procrastinating. Believe it or not, I'm already done with my classwork and now I'm just bored, looking for places I can be online without getting in trouble. This is, surprisingly, one of them.

Random Fact of the Day: "I want lobster with butter." in Spanish is "Yo quiero langosta con mantequilla." In case you ever go to Spain and want lobster with butter.

The topic of the day: Atlas Shrugged

I'm still reading it. After about... 3 months or so, I almost know who John Galt is. Do you? Well, I think you should. Don't tell me if you do. I'll come back and tell you about it.
Let me say, Atlas Shrugged is rightfully placed as the second most influential book in the world. It has so many good thoughts and quotes and stuff.

And let me make one thing clear, just in case some of you people do read this. I don't agree with every single point in this book. And I doubt anyone will except for Ayn Rand herself. Atlas Shrugged is a very black and white book, but it's that way for a reason. If she wrote this book with grays and shadows that were unclear, this book wouldn't have done anything for the world.

I'll come back and write a lot about it later, when I finish it. (350 pages to go!) For now, I'll just suggest that everyone else read it. And update the quote page with a bunch of Atlas Shrugged quotes.

Well, 'till next time!