family studies – Imaginary Sunshine

I survived!

Michelle — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 03:36:35 +0000

My final for Family Studies (FMST) went well. It’s worth 20% of my final grade (the two midterms were worth 40% each – it’s not cumulative). And I did some math before going into the exam and if I completely bomb up (i.e. get 0% on it), I’ll still pass the course! Yeah! But it went well. The exam was only an hour and a half and people started to leave at around 20 minutes in. I left about an hour into the exam even though I was done at about 35 minutes in.

I have 2 bio exams on Tuesday, and then a psychology exam the following Monday (15th). And then after that it’s shopping, shopping, shopping and crafting, crafting, crafting and content writing for the entire week. I’m kinda excited, despite the fact that it means spending money, spending time and spending more time. It shall be interesting. And I’ll post pictures (unless, of course, I know that the people who will be receiving said items will read my blog, in which case I won’t be posting pictures until after they’ve received – I’m oh so tricky like that).

I hope everyone had anexcellent Saturday and that your Sunday is even better (because mine won’t be, yeah for all day studying of biology!).

Three cheers for being done midterms (for good this time!)

Michelle — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:39:43 +0000

So… Guess who rocked her family studies midterm…? [And yes, the answer better be my name!] So it went well, obviously. Luckily I did all the questions or else I probably would have failed the multiple choice component (which happens to be 70% of the midterm grade). Oy. Anyways, yeah, kicked ass except for that portion where I forgot about processing speed (but to be fair, that was only a fifth on the question and I did get the other four and it was only 1 mark). So… Yay! It’s worth quite a bit too (40%) so I’m psyched that I actually feel confident about it (and it’s not that kind of confidence th

I’m currently watching J eat something that’s basically… a block of chocolate that’s full of mini marshmallows. She spent $2 on this sugar-inducing-coma concoction. It’s really big too, probably about the size of a small dictionary (but not one of those tiny keychain dictionaries). And now I’m sitting and chatting with people about biology and physics.

I’d say that I’m surrounded by science geeks, but then I’m pretty sure that I count as one myself.

The week’s almost over… right?

Michelle — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:13:31 +0000

The way the American election works rather confuses me. Seriously, they vote for everything at the same time it seems. The President, the Governors, the Senate, assorted acts and laws and whatnot. And for those rejoicing over Obama’s win over McCain, you’re all forgetting something. Obama had 52,658,842 votes. McCain? 48,653,717. Sure, that seems like a huge difference (off by about 4 million votes) but I like statistics. That’s a hell of a lot of people who voted for the one with the donkey and a lot of people who voted for the one with the elephant (Can someone tell me why they use an elephant and a donkey? Is there some kind of cultural significance? Because I may not be a zoologist, but I’m pretty sure elephants aren’t native to the United States.).

Anyways, enough with the election talk. I had enough of that shocked down my throat (erm, into my ears) with listening to any of the podcasts that I regularly listen to and hearing people who usually offer wonderfully witty but sage advice telling me to go and vote right this very instant. I’m sorry? I’m Canadian? I don’t vote in the US presidential election because I don’t hold a dual citizenship? I feel like they’re expecting me to apologize for being born on this side of the border. But I digress. So onto more interesting things!

I finished the chapter 11 questions for my Family Studies class tonight. It was all about adolescents and the changes that teens go through (also talked about STDs – in depth about chlamydia, suicide, depression, pregnancy, alcohol, drug use and eating disorders). Always fascinating, I know. For instance, did you know that girls are more depressed than boys? However, boys have a higher suicide rate than girls but girls have a higher rate of attempted suicide than boys (they use less-effective suicide methods).

I have also actually been able to log into the NaNoWriMo forums without having to wait for 10 minutes per page. I’m excited. This means I can actually update my word count (holding steady at 18,069 words since this afternoon as I haven’t worked on it since getting home) without having to wait five minutes only for it to pop up telling me that the server is busy. Yes, I realize that the server is busy – that’s why it’s taking so long to get anywhere! I’m hoping that I’ll be able to find the room that was reserved for the write-ins in the building tomorrow – I had issues attempting to find it on Monday. I’m potentially geographically challenged? It’s also a rather hidden room so I don’t know. We’ll see!

I was productive (for a Monday, at least)

Michelle — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:52:57 +0000

Or rather, I was a productive as one can ever possibly be for a Monday. Today I: woke up, rushed out the door, went on the bus, went on the train, went onto another train, braved the rain to get to English, sat through class, went to the building where my psych lecture is, got my shoes incredibly muddy, chatted with people, sat through class, learned nothing new (learned it already in bio class), couldn’t find the room for the write-in, wrote almost 2,000 words, attended bio class, didn’t fall asleep in bio class (yay!), went on the bus, went on the train, went onto another bus, reread parts of Great Expectations, got home, texted the boyfriend a few times, ate a croissant, worked on some family studies questions, took a very short (only about 30 minutes long) nap, woke up, got dinner started, watched General Hospital (I fast forward the boring parts, only watched about 15 minutes total today), had dinner, worked on more family studies questions, ate a cookie, washed dishes, finished the family studies questions (yay!), printed off the family studies chapter 11 questions (for tomorrow, not today), texted the boy some more, did psych notes for today, yawned, wrote this blog entry.

Now I’m about to go and study for my quiz tomorrow morning on joints in the body. Hmmm, joints… Then I’ll be off to sleep (!!!).

The necessary entry

Michelle — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:36:25 +0000

Mmm, I’m taking a short break before I start on my chapter 10 questions (after this, it’s only chapter 11 left!). Which shouldn’t be too bad when I printed out the questions, it only takes up three pages. I’ve been scouring the interwebs for a decent pasta sauce recipe, I’m hoping to find something good that doesn’t require meat since I’m so anti-meat these days (by ‘anti-meat’, I mean cooking meat requires a touch more preperation and I’m just too lazy for that for the most part). Yum. Meat… I’m totally showing off how bad of a carnivore I am right now. I did have chicken today though. And imported-from-New-Zealand mussels. It was good.

Important information: I found my mini stapler. It was free last year on the first day of school, from Staples and it’s teal. I lost it and then I found it hidden underneath my printer (wtf?). Also, ate a bit of candy today (not from my party stash, from my zomg-Halloween’s-over-let-me-buy-candy stash that will probably be incorporated into my party stash. Most likely the Tootsie Rolls since that hasn’t been opened yet, and whatever’s left from the other bag of glorious soft taffy that I’ve been inhaling. -slaps self- Oh well, my dentist will be pleased with me.

And now time to get back to work after this rather pointless (but oh-so-necessary) blog entry.

I want my cell phone back now, kthx.

Michelle — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:57:15 +0000

@ Georgina: My phone -steals back- I sent him an email.

And he read it (he woke up early today, I was pleased) and then he texted me to be like “So, what’s that email in my inbox about?”. And proceeded to allude to the fact that he had read the email but he refused to confirm. And then he did. And then we started talking about what we wanted to do this weekend (he has no clue, I want to see Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist since Twilight doesn’t come out until November 21st). And then, of course, becaues we’re both just super predictable, somehow sex got back into the conversation and lah de dah… Just too much. I was learning about how six-to-twelve year olds like having BFFs because it makes them feel “important” and “like everyone else”.

Mind, please evict the gutter soon.

Anyways, anyone have awesome date ideas? Please shoot them my way!

There’s an epic battle

Michelle — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:23:00 +0000

That’s right. There’s this epic battle brewing – between myself and Family Studies. Sure, I’d been neglecting it a little bit, but then my prof generally assigns one assignment per week (we don’t have to hand them in, it’s just that the material in the assignments will be on the exams so it’s always a good idea to do them). Finished chapter 7 no problem, I did it in about 2.5 hours on Monday. Chapter 8? Well, that’s another story. About double the number of questions. However, one significant difference is that the questions in chapter 7 were like “1, 2, 3, 4, 5…” and chapter 8 is more like “1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e, 1f, 2a, 2b…” and each sub-question requires about the same amount of answering time as a regular question from chapter 7 took so it takes quite a bit more time to get through. However, I’m up to question 14 now (out of 23). I’m going to finish it tomorrow (after Grey’s Anatomy) and then start my whole ‘let’s catch up on notes for human anatomy and physiology’ goal. Yeah, we’ll see. But since my (second) midterm for family studies is next Thursday (November 6th) – I do plan on getting all the assignments done by at least Sunday so I can actually study the material and kick ass (and win the battle and hopefully, in December, win the war). Despite all the time and effort that is required for the actual course, it’s actually quite interesting, I rather like learning about kiddies and how they think and develop. Well, early and middle childhood is interesting. Infancy? Not so much.

I’m going to go watch Private Practice now. I need to just sit somewhere and drink tea and just do something that doesn’t involve reading my textbook for family studies (however, it is the textbook that’s getting the most this term – which makes it worth the money that I paid for it… which I still consider to be overpriced for a softcover text).

Excitement!

Michelle — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:58:48 +0000

For all the new lovelies who have decided to join in on the NaNoWriMo fun, my username is littlevampiregirl (click here to view my profile and to add me as a writing buddy). Approximately 74 hours until Saturday November 1st 2008! Yay! Who’s all excited like me for this? Yes? Well, I will be once I get all my school shit done by Friday night so I can start off November on a good note. Perhaps learn to type even faster than I alraedy do so that I can manage to do assignments and school and noveling all at the same time. Or something, who knows.

I was planning on getting all of my chapter 8 questions done today. Until I looked at the total amount of questions (double of what I did for chapter 7). So… Doing half tonight, half tomorrow. So I don’t end up killing myself with information on preschoolers and what they do and how they learn.

Cupcake’d – Deux

Michelle — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:28:09 +0000

I’m online – but please don’t smack me? Word seems to hate me today and won’t let me open the file that I have saved for my assignment? Wtf? Luckily I don’t need to hand it in, but not being able to work on it (I have it about half-finished, yay) because I have my answers saved in the document that was emailed to me by the prof (which has all the questions…) makes life difficult. For starters, I potentially need to reinstall Word (difficult to do when I don’t have the disc) and I’m carrying around my textbook for family studies for no real reason (quite annoying). However, life is always a bowl of cherries (or whatever) on some level. For instance? Bagel. With dried cherry bits in it. So delicious and good. Plus, it’s carbohydrates and everyone knows that carbohydrates = sugar = short-term energy source. Or everyone who’s ever taken a biology course will know that.

J is commenting on the fact that I “actually look like a girl” today. Gee, thanks? Anyways, he thinks I’m overreacting at his (half-assed, backwards) compliment. I don’t think so. But then again, he feeds me. And he’s got a cupcake for me today, so I’ll forgive him (just this once). Because, well, it’s a chocolate cupcake with light blue icing and pink sprinkles. And the sprinkles are in the shape of an M. He’s such a sweetheart, but definitely not that good for my sweet tooth!

I’m going to be keeping up with my notes in psychology today (yay) and then doing bio notes when I get home – then finishing off the (damn) assignment tonight. Tomorrow’s going to be the next family studies assignment and then there’s doing/finishing/whatever-ing notes for my other bio class. Gah, so much to do and so little time.

Hope you’re all have an excellent Monday!

And happy 19th birthday, S!

I lack patience

Michelle — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:54:42 +0000

I’ve heard it a million times from people that I know. “Just be patient, Michelle” or just in general people going “You lack patience!”. Usually it’s from my family members, sometimes my friends, sometimes (although I throw something at him afterwards) from Clay. But lacking patience is generally not something that I contribute to myself. But after logging in and out of the website where my two new domains are registered yet, I can admit that I’m a little bit impatient. Thanks very much to Kristi for helping me register them at the chosen registar (they take Paypal, but they require a verified account, tsk). So now I’m just waiting for them to be actually registered. I’ve also checked a whois site a few times to see if they’re propagated/online yet. It’s been probably around 3-4 hours so far so I am fairly impatient today. Then again, I am excited so… yay! One’s going to be for my roleplaying game (after 2+ years, it’s finally moving to a domain instead of being on Freewebs!) and the other is going to be my ‘other pet project’. Which will involve a blog and such. Yay? I think so. Not revealing the names yet to anyone, but it’ll be pretty awesome and I’ll have a giant blog entry on here going “zomg, guess what’s up?!”… Or something equally as lame. I don’t know, I’ll try to keep it cheerful and not quite so nerdy. I might not succeed, but I’ll definitely try.

Family studies today was fairly boring. It was about children development and parenting styles that have a detrimental affect on the child. The unfortunate thing is that while I was listening to her speak, it was like having someone describe my father to me. There’s a portion of my notes dedicated to parents who manipulate their children through conditional love. Like, they’ll only love a child (or seem to only love a child) if they get married by a certain age, get married to a certain type of person, become a doctor or a lawyer and it was really like having someone just speak about my father. And it wasn’t in a positive, awww, let’s be proud of daddy! way either. So my father is an “authoritarian” in terms of his parenting style. Good stuff to know.