TGIF

Today after classes I get to see my friends, I am so excited. First I get to hang out with one of my friends at a hotel, I just wish there was a swimming pool. Next we are going to meet up with a group of friends, hang out a bit, and then head to Niverville to finish off the night. On Saturday I have no idea what we are doing, except that we are going trick or treating in the evening. I don't even have a costume but I can always rock out as myself. Anyway, this weekend is looking like the best weekend since thanksgiving and I can't wait to get out of here. Today has been pretty much waking up and heading off to my class, eating, and now waiting for my next, and final class. I am hoping I don't have to concentrate to hard in my next class because I am going to be pretty preoccupied and anxious about the weekend.

Just another day

Today was one of those days where I felt good doing nothing. There are times where doing nothing feels terrible and you know you didn't accomplish anything. Today I didn't feel that. Sure I could have been active, which I do need to do more. But I have gotten most of my work done and I am getting ready for a great weekend. I am planning on heading to Niverville and staying overnight at a friends house. We are then going trick or treating on Saturday and hanging out on Sunday also. What makes it that much more special is my hometown friends are coming out to spend the weekend too. Right now I am sitting in my room blogging, and eating junk food. I was playing video games, but I got fed up with the mission I had to do and decided to take a break. I will probably go back to it after I have done a skirmish or two, but right now I am content with sitting here and relaxing.

Biologists can be smart, but they can also be stupid

Today was my writing for the media class, double block. The first part was just notes and small discussions, which is not that interesting, but the second half of the class picked up a bit. When we got back after our 20 min break we got split up into small groups to look at different news articles for nut grafs. Nut grafs are paragraphs near the beginning of an article that crystallize the meaning of the article. As me and my partner were going through an article on a woman getting killed by coyotes, we came across this line, "coyotes, which are normally up to 50 pounds, are usually very shy, though they can be bold." This statement was made by a biologist who is retired. You would think that a retired biologist would be able to put a better sentence together, or at least have a solid statement in his sentence. Biologists are normally educated, so they are usually smart, although they can be stupid.

"Gold stars do not grow on trees"

My triple class day went particularly well today. Other than the unavoidably early first class, I was able to have a rather good school day experience. For intro to communications and media we watched a video clip. It was not the most entertaining thing ever, but it was a nice class none the less. For second class I did pretty much nothing, but it wasn't a typical boring class. I brought some hot chocolate into the class along with some chocolate, which kept me occupied for a little bit while the teacher did her thing. I also worked on a drawing in my notepad. After a humorous lunch, I went to dorm where I got some time to just chill. This was followed by my last class, television. Now this class started out normally and got pretty crazy near the end. We were talking about hypertextuality, when Dr. Greco used a Wikipedia analogy. I did not think this was fitting and so I asked about it. The debate got heated (not really) and when Johanna offered an alternative, talk about gold stars started flying. Now you must know that me and Johanna are tied for gold stars and, "Gold stars do not grow on trees," so you can imagine the struggle that took place. In the end I don't even know what happened, all I know is that I didn't get a gold star. That pretty much ended anything noteworthy in my day, till next time.

Extended weekend

Today was a pretty good day, I almost forgot to write something today because it seemed so much like the weekend. I got up this morning, knowing I had to go to class at 11:10 am. After laying in bed for awhile after the alarm goes my room mate sits up and looks at his phone. He looks over at me and says, "I just got a text, there is no class today." I am shocked and I ask again to make sure I heard right. I did hear right and now I am very excited. What better way to show my excitement than to go to bed right? That is exactly what I did, I laid my head back down and slept for a few more hours. It was delightful. I then got up and went to lunch, where I had some cereal. After coming back to dorm I played some computer games and then played some halo. I am now writing this blog and have realized that I need to get to work on some other papers so I am going to head off and do that.

Two day blog

I woke up this morning and I went to my first class, which is Spiritual Formations. In this class, as I was sitting there, I remembered that I did not do a blog for yesterday. I had a sudden rush of panic, what should I do, how can I make this better? I figured that I would do a 200 word blog today and if that didn't work I would not sweat it. So this is going to be my 200 word blog to make up for yesterday and cover today. This week has not been a very fun week. Sure there have been some good times, good laughs and fun activities. But I have been stressing about some of the work I have to do and not really enjoying things as much as I could be. This weekend I plan to go into Winnipeg and do a little unwinding, spend some time with friends and not worry about assignments that are due in the next week or so. Moving past the half way point in the school year also raises questions on final projects. Topics should be thought up and ideas brewing, if not already, soon. I have only gotten a start on about half of my papers, and that is not a physical start that is simply a mental thinking over of things, but you have to start somewhere. I will probably start more research or prep work for my upcoming papers soon, but I don't want to think about that right now.

To sleep or not to sleep?

Today was my Wednesday double block. It always seems like such a long class to have, especially in the morning, but every time I have gotten back to my room, I find my roommate still asleep. I find this humorous, but I am also slightly envious of the rest my roommate is getting. I feel like I have gotten so much done and yet I do love my sleep. I find that is how most mornings go when I wake up earlier than 8:30. I feel tired for the first few minutes and then I wake up in the morning air. If I slow down and stay still for too long however; I regain all the tiredness I did not get rid of while I slept. This makes me almost fall asleep in classes and while reading textbooks. It seems to flee quite quickly as soon as I start doing some thing that is of any interest to me, or requires me to actually interact with; example: homework, computer, sports activities.

Just another day + a midterm

Today was my second mid term exam, it was for Intro to Communications and Media. I did not study very hard and I think my work on the exam reflected that. I find it difficult to study for that class, but understand that I need to try a bit harder. Next I went back to dorm and sleep for awhile. After my nap I read one of my textbooks and went for lunch. I met with my group for our advertisement after lunch and we went over our plans. We have decided on an idea, but I will not blog about it right now. The suspense must be at its maximum before I do that. For my third class we watched different clips of television shows, which was enlightening and funny. Who knew those two things could go together so well in a college classroom.

Mid term exams this week

Back to blogging again today, start of a new work week and beginning of mid term exams week. For me I only have one exam that I know of this week. I had my intro to the bible exam last week as you might recall from previous blogs and now I only have one left apparently. It is really nice but I am not sure what I have to do in the other classes that do not have a final project instead of exams for major assignments. I have gotten ahead in some areas of my classes and in other classes I have not even started on final projects or assignments. I feel like I am going to be swamped at the end of the semester but I am sure I am just being paranoid. It seems so easy to gain stress and so hard to strip it off. Why do we as human beings accept so much pressure when we have such a mighty God? I usually have to push myself to remember and ask for God's help and deliverance in stressful times, but when I do I find amazing peace. It is quite spectacular how it works when you trust in God's providence.

Theaters are a jip

Today is my triple class day, which sucks, but it is also Friday, which rocks. I had to go to my Spiritual Formations class this morning and hand in the first big paper I have had to do. It was an easy class and I went back to my room and watched whose line is it anyway. In my second class, which is television, we got to watch another episode of Max Headroom. Today's episode was possibly the best Max Headroom episode yet, it actually had some humor that got the class to laugh out loud, which is a step up for that show. In the second half of the class we discussed the difference between cinema, and television. We found out that there is a difference between the video being projected onto a screen and the video being directly projected into your eyes. We then determined that theaters rip you off when you have to pay for your video because you are watching a reflection and not the actual video. If you would like to join our petition please comment on this blog, thank you.

Exam today

Today was kind of a slow day, there was stuff to do, but I wasn't very rushed in doing it. I woke up around 11:10 and worked on my Spiritual Memoir paper. This took me until lunch where I ate and played a few games of pool with Arjun. I ended up losing most of them and then came back to the dorm to study for Intro to the bible. It was a nice study period, I laid on my bed and went over my notes with music quietly playing. I ended up dozing off once or twice, but I thought I took in quite a bit. I went to the exam confident that I knew most of my stuff, which felt good. I wrote the exam and thought that I did do quite well, I do not know my exact mark yet but I will probably blog about it when I get it back. After the exam I went to supper and finally back to dorm, it was not an exciting day but it wasn't terrible. I felt pretty content after I finished my exam and knew I had less than a page to write on my paper that is due tomorrow. Speaking of that paper I should get to it.

Wednesday the 14th

This is for Wednesday the 14th, I know I am a bit late but I got side tracked. This one is going to be thought up quick so that it will be as close to the 14th as possible. The 14th has been so crowded, I have been doing stuff pretty much non stop. Not everything was necessary, but it's nice to slow down a bit and not do work 24/7. I have an exam on the 15th that I have been studying for and a paper due for my spiritual formations class on Friday. I am pretty sure that the exam won't be to terrible, but there are some things that I need to understand more. I also think that I can get this paper done with time to spare, although I am procrastinating quite a bit. This blog has also been set aside, mostly due to the fact that as soon as I came back from my class, I fell asleep and woke up in the afternoon. Okay that is it for Wednesday the 14th, I'll be back soon to update you on my Thursday the 15th.

Thanksgiving is over

Yesterday I got dropped back at Prov, it was a terrible realization that I would not be able to have another holiday till Christmas. Getting dropped off and left here once again was not a pleasant experience, made worse by getting up this morning and going off to a morning class. Already I am feeling slightly homesick, which I am sure will pass but is not fun to deal with right now. The work is also not a fun thing, having to get back to assignments and papers, knowing that exams are coming is not a very fun thought when you get back from a good weekend. From Friday to Monday I was hanging with friends, eating great food, playing some halo 3 campaign, and having a great time. I am sad to see it end and I can't wait to do it again, but I am also looking forward to the times and experiences I will be having right here at prov.

Participant Observation (2 days left)

As I woke up this morning at 8:00 AM, I thought to myself, shoot I have to go to class already. This thought lead me into the day. I think about it now and how my day went, and it really wasn’t that bad. In class we were greeted with Dr. Greco’s smiling face and watched some movie clips. Later in the class we were introduced to Participant Observation. This is when you write on what you have observed and participated in yourself. We had not done anything special in the day so far, so Dr. Greco released us onto the campus to report our participation and observation. This is what I observed.

I exited the classroom wondering what I could possibly observe as a walked down the carpeted hallway with classrooms passing me by. I wondered how I could come up with an interesting, and descriptive report as I turned left and took the 6 flights of stairs, ridden with advertisements, and notices to the bottom floor. There I took a look at the bistro, there was no one at the café tables that riddled the tiled floor outside the bookstore. I decided to try my luck at the mailboxes, where I too had a mailbox that had not been checked that day. I passed the bathrooms and dodged the pillar, turning the corner to look down the dungeon’s gray cement pathway. I quickly reached the room full of small cubbyholes that are our mailboxes. Still no one occupied this small room, where letters and packages from friends and family are delivered to cheer us up from our regular routines. While I was there I noticed that my mailbox, like the day before, was empty. This was not a surprise, but it did not make me feel good. This trail was cold, and so I retraced my steps and then found new ones that took me to the Student Life Center, more commonly referred to as the SLC. As I ambled towards the SLC, through the chilly October breeze, down on the sidewalk in front of me was white chalk writing. This particular writing was promoting Amber Allen for freshman representative. I had never met Amber, but the chalk writing did catch my eye, maybe I will vote Amber. When I stepped into the comfortably warm SLC at around 9:40, I noticed that this was not a very opportune time to be observing student life. There were very few people sitting around, mostly watching TV, but also playing a game of pool. I was drawn to the largest group of people who were on the couches watching sports highlights on Sports Center. After the initial highlight of hockey team Minnesota Wild beating the Anaheim Ducks: 4-3, football and baseball highlights followed from recent games. From all these highlights, the highlights that I liked the most were the football Hit Room clips. It turns out however the highlight of the night was Alex Semin of the Washington Capitals, who scored a goal where he juked out a defense man from the Philadelphia Flyers. As the amazing highlights came to a close, a classic television show opened for us to watch. The Price is Right was the show, and in the first round hearts were pumping quicker as the contestant beat the buzzer playing the game Bonkers by milliseconds. By this point time was running out for me to be away from class. I made my way back to the classroom in the now dreary weather that plagued the campus grounds. Feeling better when I got inside the building, I made it to class and ended my Participant Observation Report.

3 more days

Alright, the week is over half done for me, I am getting picked up and driven home on Thurs. It is going to be great, I even have slow days for the next two days. I am planning on getting some reading done and starting on writing up my spiritual memoirs for Spiritual Formations class. Today wasn't a terrible day, it consisted of getting up early and missing Supper but other than that it was alright. I had three classes which turned out fine, we even watched an optional Max Headroom episode today. It was kinda weird, but what Max Headroom episode isn't? The best part of my day was probably having a nap after first class, it was a nice time just to lay down and listen to music while I rested. I got nothing done and read a page of my textbook but I was rested for a large part of the day after i was done.

4 more days till Thanksgiving

The beginning of the week has come and I must continue my first hand account of blogging for the betterment of mankind. Well not really, I find my topics quite boring and need something to happen in my life that is blog worthy. Today was a day of sitting around and reading a book that is supposed to be read and reported on for Spiritual formations class. It has many things to think about and that is just what it made me do, think. I feel that I am an open minded person, but this book caught me slightly off guard with some of its opinions and thoughts. It could be the wording though, I didn't quite understand all of it, which I should probably work on. It did get me thinking of my beliefs, and how I need to be clear on what they are. On a totally different topic there is only 4 more days till I get to leave for thanksgiving break. I am so excited and I think I will do a countdown on my blog till I leave.