This is a bit different than my usual school blog, but I wanted to post this and since I already have this blog, I thought I'd take a little detour from the school stuff and post this review here. Cheers!
The Hunger Games – A.R. Burns
4/6/12 - 8:00 p.m. show
The majority of people in the theater were young girls roughly from the age range of 14 – 24. There were some couples out for a Friday date night and some guys there, but the theater population was about 70% female. The majority of the people were white and I heard at least two instances of kids bringing their parents to the movie. The kids had read the books, the parents had not. Due to the reactions in the theater at certain places in the movie, I’d say about 40-50% of the people at this showing had not read the books.
The Appetizers:
First trailer was for the WWF. It would appeal to the male demographic and helps set the violent tone of the evening. Next up was a spot for the Metropolitan Opera featuring celebs like Katie Couric and Christine Baranski. Then there was a PSA for autism – the one with the golf pro in it whose son is autistic. Next up was a trailer for the new G.I. Joe film starring Channing Tatum and The Rock. It was very violent, showed a corrupt state, featured a multi-racial cast and equal violence from the male and female characters. Next was Snow White and the Huntsman. The more I see of the trailers for this movie, the dumber it looks. Also – K Stew cannot rock a British accent even after shagging one for years. The violence was mostly on the female side with Charlize Theron’s queen being all evil and vengeful; they are trying to bill K Stew’s Snow White as a badass. The tag line is “evil fights destiny” – an interesting tie-in with this film. Next we have the trailer for Dark Shadows, which continues to look like a train wreck every time I see it, from Johnny Depp’s ridiculous wardrobe and makeup to the setting of the 70’s. This was another appeal for the males in the audience as there were boobs and innuendo aplenty. Next was a quick trailer of The Host, which looks ridiculous as well. Following that was the trailer for What To Expect When You’re Expecting. They gave it the heavy appeal-to-guys cut and featured mostly the dads and Chris Rock in it. Finally we got the trailer for Breaking Dawn II and all I can say about that is thank god it’s almost over.
The Main Course:
My first note was “I love her boots!” And I did. Those lace-up boots were awesome – I want a pair! For me, the beginning was kind of odd. They did a good job setting up that Katniss is a good hunter and tracker and that she is a strong female. Amazingly enough, before the first ten minutes are up she’s already had the I-don’t-want-to-have-kids discussion with Gale. I found absolutely no chemistry whatsoever between Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Helmsworth. He’s pretty and all, but there was just no spark there.
The Mockinjay pin was introduced via Katniss trading in the market rather than it being a gift from the mayor’s daughter. Katniss gives it to Prim for protection (fat lot of good that does) and then Prim gives it back to her after Katniss volunteers at the Reaping. A main difference that hit me in the beginning of the film was how Katniss came off the page to me as kind of emotionless and distant, but as portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence and directed by this director, she is extremely emotional and not quite as hardcore as she was in the books. It was one of the first instances in which the film differs from the books in bringing a human face to such a dark world.
The Reaping was very reminiscent to me of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”. The Capitol’s propaganda film at the beginning of the Reaping reminded me very strongly of the Marine recruiting ads on TV. The choosing of Prim and the volunteering of Katniss to take her place is much more emotional on film. The little girl playing Prim did a great job and her screaming for Katniss gets to you. The salute is given to Katniss when she volunteers from the crowd – did that happen in the book? It’s been a while since I read them, but it was a beautiful moment. From the beginning, and this is straight from my notes, “Peeta is a world class pussy”. Josh Hutcherson is a good actor and all, but he just is not the way I envisioned Peeta and in the beginning he really did play him very wussy. In my mind, from reading the book, Peeta had a lot of backbone and stoicism. I dunno, it was just weird for me.
Elizabeth Banks disappears in that makeup. Effie was a frivolous and ridiculous character in the book, but I found the wardrobe and the way Banks played her (or was directed to play her) had me hating that character every time she was on my screen. By contrast, the way Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch was introduced was kinda cool. He was kinda badass there and I think Harrelson was definitely the right pick for the job. Another excellent casting choice was Lenny Kravitz as Cinna. I know a lot of people complained about this, but I always saw Cinna as being unwilling to play the Capitol’s game and Kravitz played him true to the way he was in my mind. Another casting choice a lot of people disagreed with was Rue, but I found her adorable and perfect.
The first glimpse of the child-on-child violence as seen in reviews of previous Hunger Games footage is very jarring and really brings to life the horror of this world. This is a place where this is conducted as sport and it’s very shocking at first. Also from my notes during the training scenes: “do they train for Survivor like this?” The whole thing once they reach the Capitol is just the epitome of reality television and that is the one thing about these books – it could happen. People are already doing insane things on reality TV for notoriety and fame – I can totally see killing being the next level.
The scene where Cinna is seeing Katniss off to the platform/tube is phenomenally done. Lawrence’s shaking was spot-on and the Katniss-eye-view camera work that is done there and at other points in the film adds a lot to the feel of those moments. At the showing I went to, the bloodbath at the cornucopia left the theater completely silent – you seriously could have heard a pin drop. There were some intakes of breath and one or two “oh my god”s, but mostly it was just silent horror. Again, the violence is visceral, but it needs to be to be true to the story and its overall message.
The way the games are orchestrated and you see the behind-the-scenes action with Seneca Crane, President Snow, and the people at the controls really shows how fucked up this world is. The way they manipulate things for enjoyment, cut in with scenes from the Capitol and the other districts watching and reacting, really brings it home. In some ways, on film it’s even more of an indictment against reality programming.
Rue, from the beginning in the games, is awesome. So cute. I did, however, find her death scene a little less gut wrenching on film than in the book. I don’t know why, it just didn’t stab me. I think it might have something to do with the fact that in the book there is so much more interaction between Rue and Katniss before her death than there was in the film. At any rate, it just didn’t kill me like it did in the book. The riot in District 11 I also didn’t remember happening in the book, but it was very well done and honest in the film.
Hutcherson and Lawrence did a good job of showing the evolution of that relationship playing out on the game screens. The final scene at the cornucopia was another letdown, as were the muttations. In the books, Katniss sees they have the eyes of the other dead players in the games and that makes them even more horrific – that was another scene that lost some of its punch for me. The ending, when Katniss and Peeta win and are declared winners brought a lot of applause in the theater I was in. The ending of the film was a bit bizarre (wasn’t Seneca part of the resistance, or am I remembering it wrong?), but it set up the next film nicely.
Overall, for a book-to-screen film, I’d give this a solid A. This actually is a good film and I believe both it and the book series have a strong message. I wouldn’t let kids, say, under 16 go and see it by themselves and, were I a parent, I'd prefer to go and see this with my kids and discuss it after. This is a film to prompt serious discussions. There is a lot of violence, but I didn’t find it gratuitous or unnecessary. On the contrary, I found it just visceral enough to underscore the meaning and bring into life the reality of a government making districts give up 24 children each year to go into an arena and murder one another for sport and entertainment. I walked out of the theater hearing everyone else talking about it, comparing it to the books, and not hearing anyone, even the younger viewers, consider it just meaningless movie violence – and I think that is an important feat in itself. Good film, I’d recommend it and I recommend the books even more.
That’s my take on The Hunger Games. Cheers!
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Changing....Growing
Hello again all.
So...I hope life is finding everyone well and happy and getting into the spirit of the holiday season. For myself, I have to say that I’m having the quintessential Florida holiday experience which, roughly translated, means it doesn’t feel like Christmas. I’ve had trouble since moving to Florida with the holidays not really seeming like the holidays. Something about bright sunlight and being able to wear shorts and tanks in December just makes the holiday season feel less....real. To my mind, Christmas is the time to snuggle up with a nice mug of cocoa, listen to Christmas music, watch the snow fall and gaze at the lights on the tree. This year there isn’t even a tree up. It’s....disconcerting to the mind a bit. It’s hard to adjust to Christmas in the sun. So...once again I find myself not really reveling in the Christmas spirit but more of the mindset of it just being another day on the calendar. I guess it’s all what you put into it, as many things are, but I’m just not feeling the holiday this year.
As for life, things have been a bit....weirder than usual. I did actually pack up all my stuff and drive up to Chicago thinking about finding work and trying to make DePaul work out, but I just didn’t get the right vibe from the city and ended up just turning around and driving back. *shrug* At least I can say I’ve been now. It didn’t do much for me. So...DePaul might have really good programming or whatever, but it’s just not the place for me, and I’m okay with that.
I have finished up my first semester at UCF and I have to admit that I am pretty proud of my grades. For my first semester at “real college,” I feel like I did well. I got an A in my Writing for the Technical Professional class. I got an A- in my American Literature II class and an A- in my Theories and Techniques of Literature Study class. In my final class, World Literature, I got a B+. I am extremely happy with that B+ as the discussions and what-not in that class were hella hard. So...I feel accomplished and capable and ready to move forward.
My schedule for the Spring semester, which starts in January, is as follows:
Advanced Expository Writing
Magazine Writing I
Professional Editing
American Literature I
I drove the two-hours-each-way drive yesterday to Orlando to campus to get my books for my classes and also managed to pick up some books that will help me in the future – mostly stylebooks and manuals. I’ve done some preliminary looking over of my new course books and I’m glad I went to get them early. The books for my Advanced Expository Writing class are really intensive. It looks like I’m staring down the barrel of a semester full of lots and lots of writing. I’m looking forward to it, but also feeling a little intimidated as well. I’m hoping that working ahead a bit on my own through the first two chapters in each of the books will help me to get a handle on where those classes are headed.
As far as the future of my education, I’ve been traveling back and forth to Gainesville a bit and really like the vibe up there. It reminds me of a cross between the Redmond/Bellevue areas in Washington and Springfield in Missouri. I’d never been to the UF campus or paid much attention, but the more I see and travel around up there, the more I like that campus. So...I’m considering applying to transfer from UCF to UF after the first of the year. My main concern with continuing on at UCF is the fact that it seems like a lot of the classes for my major moving forward are only offered on campus and not online. As I don’t care for the feel of Orlando and have no desire to move down there and live, it makes the prospect of continuing on at UCF a little bleak. However, transferring to UF seems like it would be a good move and that way, if I do have to take on campus classes in the future, it’s easier to get around Gainesville than Orlando. Of course, UF’s application process does look like it might be harder to get in, but I’m telling myself that if Columbia was head-hunting me, and if I got into DePaul, surely UF might be willing to let me in – right? Maybe? I dunno, we’ll see.
Aside from all of that, life is kind of in a holding pattern until after the first of the year. I have begun the job and housing searches in Gainesville as whether or not I transfer schools, I really want to move to Gainesville. So far there are some prospects that look good and I’m hopeful that after the first of the year, things will start falling into place. The more I travel back and forth up there, the more I like it and find new places I want to check out. I’m excited at the prospect of exploring around up there and seeing what there is to see.
Apart from all of that, things are quiet. I did have the opportunity to do some ruminating over the last year and one of the things that struck me the most was how lucky and grateful I am that I attended CF. I have to say that for anyone who is a high school student unsure about moving forward to a four-year college or university, or for anyone like myself returning to school after a long absence, a two-year college where you can get an Associate’s Degree is a great stepping stone. Even though I only had a couple of semesters there, I felt like I had a great transition from there to UCF. Without having gone to CF, I don’t think my first semester at UCF would have gone nearly as well. God knows Rasmussen didn’t do crap for me as far as getting ready to transfer to another school, and they certainly weren’t a four-year college that would have done anything for me vocationally upon graduating. So on the whole, I felt really prepared to head off to regular university after my time at CF. So...thanks College of Central Florida – y’all rock. :)
Well...here we are at the end of another year. My time going back to school has certainly been interesting...and taking longer than I thought it would. But, I feel good about the future, I feel good about my major and my plans moving forward. At some time, I might be interested in considering graduate school, but right now I’m just moving forward with completing my Bachelor’s and trying to find the right connections to get into the tech writing field. We shall see how things develop. In the meantime, I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season and to all of you in the cold – enjoy the snow and Christmas season for me. I’ll just be here, sweating it out under the sun, kind of seasonally jet-lagged if you will. Cheers all!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Where You Are Is Where You're At - Deal With It
Hey again all.
So...once again plenty of updates here. :) Life has been crazy busy and also very stagnant and limbo-like at the same time. Because of my PTK status, I got a lot of schools e-mailing me information and inviting me to apply. Some of these schools are very, very good schools - like Columbia in New York (which was my dream school when I was 16), and also DePaul University in Chicago, which I'd never thought about but promptly fell in love with when I checked into their programming.
However, love is all well and good, but as DePaul is a private university, it's also mega expensive. And I have not been able to find work anywhere in Chicago to be able to facilitate a move. As such, while I applied and was accepted, there just isn't enough financial aid available and/or a job there to be able to make that dream come true, which is very sad. But, sometimes where you are is where you are and you just have to suck it up and deal, make the best of the situation, lemonade from lemons, etc. Considering I haven't won the lottery, I'm taking the present state of things as a sign and making due with what I have where I am.
To that end, I went earlier this month to the big orientation at UCF. And I mean BIG. SO. MANY. PEOPLE. o.O And, honestly, their staff? Not the nicest folks on the planet. The free lunch was garbage and....well....I'm just not in love with that school or the programming. But, it is what it is and so I am moving forward. I got through the orientation and got classes scheduled, but I have had to re-work that schedule into all online classes for this first semester. Like with Chicago, I still am unable to find any employment in Orlando that can facilitate a move. As such, I can't commute 4 hours each day trying to get back and forth while staying here in Ocala so....online classes it is. Which is fine with me because I'm a Technical Writing major and I actually prefer my writing classes online.
As such, here is my schedule for this first semester of classes at UCF:
American Literature II
Writing for the Technical Professional
Theories and Tech of Lit Study
World Literature I
Looks like a lot of reading and writing which are my two favorite things. Every time I have had online writing classes I have enjoyed them so I'm looking forward to this semester. Classes start August 22nd and I'm ready to get back to the studying.
As for the educational future, I do still long for DePaul, and maybe some time I can either transfer or head there for graduate work, but for right now I must make due with the options available to me. Once upon a time, when I was young, reckless, and stupid, I would have taken off and lived out of my car or something just to get the experience I was dying for. Now, older, wiser, and much more cautious, I'm hoping to do things the smart way. I'm either maturing or getting soft in my old age - some days that feels like a judgment call either way.
So....I will be back later next month to relay the fun and excitement of new classes at a new school with a new major and lots and lots of....newness. Until then - stay cool all! Cheers!
P.S. - before y'all say anything - yeah, scholarships, I know. Only problem is they contacted me with the invite to apply after the deadline for scholarship applications. It blows, but there it is. But - hey - maybe it might work out later? Who knows. We'll see. :)
So...once again plenty of updates here. :) Life has been crazy busy and also very stagnant and limbo-like at the same time. Because of my PTK status, I got a lot of schools e-mailing me information and inviting me to apply. Some of these schools are very, very good schools - like Columbia in New York (which was my dream school when I was 16), and also DePaul University in Chicago, which I'd never thought about but promptly fell in love with when I checked into their programming.
However, love is all well and good, but as DePaul is a private university, it's also mega expensive. And I have not been able to find work anywhere in Chicago to be able to facilitate a move. As such, while I applied and was accepted, there just isn't enough financial aid available and/or a job there to be able to make that dream come true, which is very sad. But, sometimes where you are is where you are and you just have to suck it up and deal, make the best of the situation, lemonade from lemons, etc. Considering I haven't won the lottery, I'm taking the present state of things as a sign and making due with what I have where I am.
To that end, I went earlier this month to the big orientation at UCF. And I mean BIG. SO. MANY. PEOPLE. o.O And, honestly, their staff? Not the nicest folks on the planet. The free lunch was garbage and....well....I'm just not in love with that school or the programming. But, it is what it is and so I am moving forward. I got through the orientation and got classes scheduled, but I have had to re-work that schedule into all online classes for this first semester. Like with Chicago, I still am unable to find any employment in Orlando that can facilitate a move. As such, I can't commute 4 hours each day trying to get back and forth while staying here in Ocala so....online classes it is. Which is fine with me because I'm a Technical Writing major and I actually prefer my writing classes online.
As such, here is my schedule for this first semester of classes at UCF:
American Literature II
Writing for the Technical Professional
Theories and Tech of Lit Study
World Literature I
Looks like a lot of reading and writing which are my two favorite things. Every time I have had online writing classes I have enjoyed them so I'm looking forward to this semester. Classes start August 22nd and I'm ready to get back to the studying.
As for the educational future, I do still long for DePaul, and maybe some time I can either transfer or head there for graduate work, but for right now I must make due with the options available to me. Once upon a time, when I was young, reckless, and stupid, I would have taken off and lived out of my car or something just to get the experience I was dying for. Now, older, wiser, and much more cautious, I'm hoping to do things the smart way. I'm either maturing or getting soft in my old age - some days that feels like a judgment call either way.
So....I will be back later next month to relay the fun and excitement of new classes at a new school with a new major and lots and lots of....newness. Until then - stay cool all! Cheers!
P.S. - before y'all say anything - yeah, scholarships, I know. Only problem is they contacted me with the invite to apply after the deadline for scholarship applications. It blows, but there it is. But - hey - maybe it might work out later? Who knows. We'll see. :)
Friday, June 10, 2011
Transitions
Hi all.
Well....it has been a while, hasn't it? :) A lot has happened since my last entry, so let's see if I can recap it all.
First, I did very well on all of my mid-terms. My Acting monologue went fabulously and I really enjoyed the experience.
Second, the rest of my classes went well and the semester was a fun one. My final acting assignment was a challenge in terms of having to work with a partner that I really didn't care for, but it all turned out well. I ended the semester with 4 A's and a B+ in Liberal Arts Math, so it was all good.
Third, I am officially a graduate of College of Central Florida! Woot! I was so happy and felt so accomplished the night of graduation. My mom, stepdad, brother and sister-in-law all came to graduation and it was just a great experience. My first college graduation was kind of lame. I had finished my two-year program in a year and happened to be in the same town when graduation rolled around, so I walked with the class, but had never made any friends with anyone or any of the instructors, so it was kind of hollow. This time around I had some friends, faculty I really liked and admired, family and it was great. It was a beautiful night and a really special time.
Fourth, things on the transfer front have gotten....interesting. I was all accepted and prepared to go to MSU, but then it turned out that the "scholarship" they were offering for my mother being an alumni was being taken out of my financial aid, so it wasn't really a scholarship at all - I was still basically being charged out-of-state tuition. Then, they weren't going to accept any of my coursework as anything other than electives, so to be able to pursue my Animation degree I would have had to start at square one and it would have taken me another four years. Add in to that moving from Florida to Missouri, trying to find jobs in tiny Springfield, etc. and it just wasn't feeling right. So....I applied and have been accepted to University of Central Florida for the fall. I feel very good about this, but it's also proving to be a challenge.
Staying in Florida means that my credits will transfer and they will accept my AA with no problems. But, prior to orientation at campus I'm having to do some major hoop jumping. I am specifically running around trying to get bloodwork done to prove I've had all of my immunizations (which kind of makes me feel like a dog). I've had blood drawn twice now as the first time the lab screwed it up and it's just a bunch of craziness. Also, the financial aid awards have been limited so I'm going to be struggling to find a decent place to live in Orlando. And the job market is not being kind to me. I know I am not alone, but I have NEVER been looking for a job this long and it is really starting to get to me. I'm educated, experienced, and hardworking, but there just don't seem to be any jobs anywhere. I've applied for everything and haven't even been called for an interview. So....that's difficult.
But, I'm just trying to work on my writing and rebuilding my Etsy shop in the meantime and getting things prepared for moving to Orlando here in a couple of months. I think that once I'm back in school and getting closer to my degree and what I want to do with my life, things will be better. I'm trying to stay positive about everything at any rate. At my age, to be in the position I'm in, with no job, it just really feels like utter failure. Again, I know I'm not alone and that thousands of people are in the same boat I am, but still....it does a number on the ego and heart for sure.
Another new development is that I have decided to change majors a bit. I'm planning to major in technical writing and minor in digital media. UCF seems to have a really great technical writing program and it's work I've done before and that I know I am good at. With the degree, it opens up a lot more possibilities in the job market, and I still get my minor for my digital education. I think this is the best decision as with the job market the way it is currently, the animation degree is so specific and the job market there so tough....I think the technical writing degree will work better for me when it comes to being employable. I have hope anyway.
I'm still considering the benefits of also going to graduate school once I have my Bachelor's, we'll just have to see where things are in a couple of years. Until then....this is where things stand. I will be starting at UCF in the fall and until then, things will be pretty quiet. Thanks for hanging in there with me all and I'll see everyone from a new city and new campus here soon.
Cheers! :) Have great summers!
Well....it has been a while, hasn't it? :) A lot has happened since my last entry, so let's see if I can recap it all.
First, I did very well on all of my mid-terms. My Acting monologue went fabulously and I really enjoyed the experience.
Second, the rest of my classes went well and the semester was a fun one. My final acting assignment was a challenge in terms of having to work with a partner that I really didn't care for, but it all turned out well. I ended the semester with 4 A's and a B+ in Liberal Arts Math, so it was all good.
Third, I am officially a graduate of College of Central Florida! Woot! I was so happy and felt so accomplished the night of graduation. My mom, stepdad, brother and sister-in-law all came to graduation and it was just a great experience. My first college graduation was kind of lame. I had finished my two-year program in a year and happened to be in the same town when graduation rolled around, so I walked with the class, but had never made any friends with anyone or any of the instructors, so it was kind of hollow. This time around I had some friends, faculty I really liked and admired, family and it was great. It was a beautiful night and a really special time.
Fourth, things on the transfer front have gotten....interesting. I was all accepted and prepared to go to MSU, but then it turned out that the "scholarship" they were offering for my mother being an alumni was being taken out of my financial aid, so it wasn't really a scholarship at all - I was still basically being charged out-of-state tuition. Then, they weren't going to accept any of my coursework as anything other than electives, so to be able to pursue my Animation degree I would have had to start at square one and it would have taken me another four years. Add in to that moving from Florida to Missouri, trying to find jobs in tiny Springfield, etc. and it just wasn't feeling right. So....I applied and have been accepted to University of Central Florida for the fall. I feel very good about this, but it's also proving to be a challenge.
Staying in Florida means that my credits will transfer and they will accept my AA with no problems. But, prior to orientation at campus I'm having to do some major hoop jumping. I am specifically running around trying to get bloodwork done to prove I've had all of my immunizations (which kind of makes me feel like a dog). I've had blood drawn twice now as the first time the lab screwed it up and it's just a bunch of craziness. Also, the financial aid awards have been limited so I'm going to be struggling to find a decent place to live in Orlando. And the job market is not being kind to me. I know I am not alone, but I have NEVER been looking for a job this long and it is really starting to get to me. I'm educated, experienced, and hardworking, but there just don't seem to be any jobs anywhere. I've applied for everything and haven't even been called for an interview. So....that's difficult.
But, I'm just trying to work on my writing and rebuilding my Etsy shop in the meantime and getting things prepared for moving to Orlando here in a couple of months. I think that once I'm back in school and getting closer to my degree and what I want to do with my life, things will be better. I'm trying to stay positive about everything at any rate. At my age, to be in the position I'm in, with no job, it just really feels like utter failure. Again, I know I'm not alone and that thousands of people are in the same boat I am, but still....it does a number on the ego and heart for sure.
Another new development is that I have decided to change majors a bit. I'm planning to major in technical writing and minor in digital media. UCF seems to have a really great technical writing program and it's work I've done before and that I know I am good at. With the degree, it opens up a lot more possibilities in the job market, and I still get my minor for my digital education. I think this is the best decision as with the job market the way it is currently, the animation degree is so specific and the job market there so tough....I think the technical writing degree will work better for me when it comes to being employable. I have hope anyway.
I'm still considering the benefits of also going to graduate school once I have my Bachelor's, we'll just have to see where things are in a couple of years. Until then....this is where things stand. I will be starting at UCF in the fall and until then, things will be pretty quiet. Thanks for hanging in there with me all and I'll see everyone from a new city and new campus here soon.
Cheers! :) Have great summers!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Mid-Terms Once Again
Hey all.
So, like I said in my last post, this is one exceptionally busy semester so time to post here is hard to find. But, I'm studying for mid-terms and needed a bit of a break so here I am. :)
This semester is flying by just like I thought it would. It's a lot of work and keeps me going non-stop, but it's all good. I'm enjoying my classes for the most part and the grades so far are good.
First major bit of news is that due to my 4.0 last semester, I was invited to join the Phi Theta Kappa honor society. I was surprised and delighted and really proud of myself. The organization has a lot of positive aspects to it and I'm looking forward to receiving all the official information and going to the official induction ceremony. Plus - they have scholarships that you can apply for and being a member is something you can put on a job application and resume that really makes an impact so....yay me. :)
I'm also proud of myself in that Liberal Arts Math is not, as I feared, kicking my butt so bad. The instructor took some warming up, but he's a nice guy overall and the class is going well. I've made Bs on all of my tests so....things are going okay there.
Acting is a lot of fun. I'm really enjoying it and the more the class goes on the more I like it. The instructor is really enthusiastic and fun and so far, so good. We have a big monologue assignment that is our mid-term so....that happens on Wednesday. Wish me luck. I feel really prepared so we'll see how it goes. :)
Biology and Biology lab are kind of weird. The instructor is elderly, as I said before, and has a bunch of medical appointments that he keeps canceling classes for. As such, it's really hard to get used to my schedule this semester because it changes from week to week. We're covering a lot (LOT) of information every class and seeing as I haven't had a science class of any kind in, oh, 20 years or so....it's keeping me on my toes to be sure. The sexist comments continue, as do his inappropriate stories and what-not, but as long as I pass the class, I don't care. We're starting up a lot of debates on hot-topic issues following spring break. Why we are doing this kind of thing in a science class I don't know, but whatever. I usually do very well in those types of settings so....I'm hopeful it will all go well....as long as the rest of my group doesn't screw me over. I never have good luck with group work.
Wellness class still irritates me, but it's just another class I'm trying to survive. I'm doing okay in it and I think it'll be okay overall. My Wellness plan for the semester was approved and basically all I have to do is try to eat three times a day and get to the pool three times a week and I'm golden. Of course, these things will be challenges as I usually only eat once a day and finding the time to get to the pool will take some work but....it's all good. I haven't participated in a single gym day yet and considering that they do not count for much for the overall grade, I may just call in sick those days altogether. We shall see.
Aside from all of that, I'm just focusing on moving forward with admittance to MSU. Since my mother is an alumni from there, I qualify for in-state instead of out-of-state tuition, which is a huge savings! My application is in for evaluation and I've sent off the requests for all of the transcripts. Now I just have to wait to have everything evaluated and see if they admit me. It will all depend on how much of my previous work they want to give me credit for. We shall see.
Anyhoo....that's the latest. I'm finding this whole back-to-school experience to be very interesting to say the least. I'm realizing a few things about myself through it.
1) I take a hella lot of notes. Probably too many, but I don't know what else to do.
2) I am appreciating the experience a lot more than I would have when I was 18 or whatever. College the first time for me when I was 16 and 17 was just about getting through the program, getting done, and moving on with life. Now I am able to really appreciate the educational experience and enjoy the learning.
3) Things have changed a LOT since the last time I took a science class. :)
4) If I give myself permission to not be so grown-up and tight-laced, a lot of things like my acting class are really fun. Choosing to take that class has been really good for me on a lot of levels.
5) I'm a lot more capable than I thought I would be and I am constantly surprising myself.
6) I don't give myself enough credit. I tend to doubt myself and my abilities a lot. I need to work on that.
So....the experience moves on. We'll see how mid-terms go and hopefully I'll hear from MSU soon.
Cheers all!
So, like I said in my last post, this is one exceptionally busy semester so time to post here is hard to find. But, I'm studying for mid-terms and needed a bit of a break so here I am. :)
This semester is flying by just like I thought it would. It's a lot of work and keeps me going non-stop, but it's all good. I'm enjoying my classes for the most part and the grades so far are good.
First major bit of news is that due to my 4.0 last semester, I was invited to join the Phi Theta Kappa honor society. I was surprised and delighted and really proud of myself. The organization has a lot of positive aspects to it and I'm looking forward to receiving all the official information and going to the official induction ceremony. Plus - they have scholarships that you can apply for and being a member is something you can put on a job application and resume that really makes an impact so....yay me. :)
I'm also proud of myself in that Liberal Arts Math is not, as I feared, kicking my butt so bad. The instructor took some warming up, but he's a nice guy overall and the class is going well. I've made Bs on all of my tests so....things are going okay there.
Acting is a lot of fun. I'm really enjoying it and the more the class goes on the more I like it. The instructor is really enthusiastic and fun and so far, so good. We have a big monologue assignment that is our mid-term so....that happens on Wednesday. Wish me luck. I feel really prepared so we'll see how it goes. :)
Biology and Biology lab are kind of weird. The instructor is elderly, as I said before, and has a bunch of medical appointments that he keeps canceling classes for. As such, it's really hard to get used to my schedule this semester because it changes from week to week. We're covering a lot (LOT) of information every class and seeing as I haven't had a science class of any kind in, oh, 20 years or so....it's keeping me on my toes to be sure. The sexist comments continue, as do his inappropriate stories and what-not, but as long as I pass the class, I don't care. We're starting up a lot of debates on hot-topic issues following spring break. Why we are doing this kind of thing in a science class I don't know, but whatever. I usually do very well in those types of settings so....I'm hopeful it will all go well....as long as the rest of my group doesn't screw me over. I never have good luck with group work.
Wellness class still irritates me, but it's just another class I'm trying to survive. I'm doing okay in it and I think it'll be okay overall. My Wellness plan for the semester was approved and basically all I have to do is try to eat three times a day and get to the pool three times a week and I'm golden. Of course, these things will be challenges as I usually only eat once a day and finding the time to get to the pool will take some work but....it's all good. I haven't participated in a single gym day yet and considering that they do not count for much for the overall grade, I may just call in sick those days altogether. We shall see.
Aside from all of that, I'm just focusing on moving forward with admittance to MSU. Since my mother is an alumni from there, I qualify for in-state instead of out-of-state tuition, which is a huge savings! My application is in for evaluation and I've sent off the requests for all of the transcripts. Now I just have to wait to have everything evaluated and see if they admit me. It will all depend on how much of my previous work they want to give me credit for. We shall see.
Anyhoo....that's the latest. I'm finding this whole back-to-school experience to be very interesting to say the least. I'm realizing a few things about myself through it.
1) I take a hella lot of notes. Probably too many, but I don't know what else to do.
2) I am appreciating the experience a lot more than I would have when I was 18 or whatever. College the first time for me when I was 16 and 17 was just about getting through the program, getting done, and moving on with life. Now I am able to really appreciate the educational experience and enjoy the learning.
3) Things have changed a LOT since the last time I took a science class. :)
4) If I give myself permission to not be so grown-up and tight-laced, a lot of things like my acting class are really fun. Choosing to take that class has been really good for me on a lot of levels.
5) I'm a lot more capable than I thought I would be and I am constantly surprising myself.
6) I don't give myself enough credit. I tend to doubt myself and my abilities a lot. I need to work on that.
So....the experience moves on. We'll see how mid-terms go and hopefully I'll hear from MSU soon.
Cheers all!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Moving Forward
Greetings all! And a very Happy New Year to you and yours!
All in all, 2010 was not the worst ever for me. I made some major life changes and moved schools, had some interesting experiences and learned a lot. Going back to school was a very intimidating thought for me in the beginning, but now I feel much more confident in my learning and studying abilities and for the most part I’m enjoying the educational experience.
Last semester was very intense. My Comp II class was very challenging for me, and Spanish I was a whole new experience in torture, but I persevered and managed to end the semester with a 4.0. :) I was very, very excited and happy with that.
I am now moving into my final semester at CF. In all honesty, switching to CF from Rasmussen was pretty much the best decision I’ve made educationally. Rasmussen was not able to give me the kind of education I was looking for, and CF has allowed me to ease back into the real college environment and get prepared for transferring to a regular four-year college. I’ve had issues with wrangling with financial aid, and some of my instructors have been a bit hmmm....not great, but the actual experience and education at CF is heads and shoulders above anything Rasmussen could have hoped to offer and I am really, really happy.
Moving forward, classes have now begun for my last semester at CF. I’m both excited by this and a little anxious. I know that these next couple of months will be challenging, but also that they will fly by and I will be dealing with moving schools, moving states, trying to find work and a place to live and things are going to be very, very crazy. That aspect of things I am not looking forward to. But I am looking forward to moving on in my education and getting closer to my educational goals.
I made the most of my time off from school during winter break by picking up some writing books and got some really great writing done over the break. I also spent some time with the family and was able to enjoy the Christmas holiday with my family all together for the first time in about 14 years. So it was a good break, very palate cleansing, and I have returned to classes refreshed and ready to learn.
My first classes were Liberal Arts Math and Acting I. From the syllabus posted online, I had the feeling that my Liberal Arts Math instructor might be a bit of a dick, and he didn’t disappoint in our first lecture and going over the syllabus. However, he did explain things in a very knowledgeable manner and I’m hopeful that as the semester progresses, he will warm up to us and us to him. We have already covered the first chapter and will have our first exam next Wednesday. I have already had to make use of the math lab on campus and am asking lots and lots and lots of questions during the chapter reviews before the test. He’s been very helpful and knowledgeable in answering the questions so....I have hope that I can survive this class this semester.
My Acting class so far has been fun and I’m looking forward to getting more and more involved in that class. I think it’s definitely a better choice than yet another public speaking class. I’ve taken tons of those and there’s no challenge in it for me. This class will have some challenges involved, which will be nice. All of the other people in the class are sooooo young though. They’re shiny and new and just....way too energetic. There are some getting-to-know you game activities that remind me of team-building exercises from when I worked at various jobs (and I am not comfortable with those kinds of exercises), but I am trying to play along and allow myself a little freedom. Most of all, I hope this class helps me get a handle on voice, movement, blocking, and other aspects for my animating in the future, and also helps me with being able to perform my own poetry and short stories at slams and readings. Wish me luck!
My Biology and Wellness classes are the banes of my existence this semester and really irritate me personally on many levels. To start off with, my Biology professor is about 70, getting ready to retire, and just really doesn’t want to work anymore. Every lecture is a series of vignettes and stories he tells where he gets off topic, and they are very sexist and insulting on many levels. He also has “offered” people opt-outs on the final if you a) do 20 hours of community service, b) give blood, c) agree to be an organ donor, or d) engage in a weight loss program during the semester. Well....I’m not a convict and I have limited amounts of time so option A is out for me. I do not believe in giving blood or organ donation/transplants so B and C are out and as far as D is concerned, that is just really inappropriately getting into people’s personal business in my opinion. He’s already informed us that he’s been a coach for however long and loves to call people fat, etc. and that.....is just not the kind of stuff to say around me. I don’t appreciate the sexism and I don’t appreciate a professor using a position of authority to pass judgments on others. Especially not for a class I am paying for. However, I am holding my tongue and just keeping my head down, doing the work and trying to make it through the semester. Unfortunately, this instructor is also the instructor for my lab class so....woe is me.
This “Wellness” class is yet another serious irritation point for me. I’m a bit offended (actually, a LOT offended) by being required, at a state college, to pay for a class that is pushing agendas from the insurance and drug lobbies. The instructor for this class also requires gym days and I have already spoken to her about the fact that unless she is an M.D. with the credentials to back up dealing with my injuries, I’m not doing anything against my well-being. This course REQUIRES you to create a “wellness plan,” and engage in enacting it during the class. This just....irks me on many levels. If I want to change anything about my life, I will do so on my own. I don’t appreciate paying my good money to be forced to take a class that intrudes on my privacy and personal business. It just....really rubs me the wrong way. Plus, I’m almost 40 damn years old – if I wanted to take gym, I’d go back to high school. Ugh. The instructor is all very into the propaganda being enacted in our society through the Big Brother Just Wants You To Be Healthy campaigns, which is just another way for the government and insurance and drug lobbies to keep Americans occupied getting into one another’s business rather than noticing what is being done, and not done, in our country.
Not sure what I’m talking about? Here’s an example. Big Brother tells you to blame the fatties for the high costs of insurance – it costs so much to keep fatties alive right? WRONG! I’ve worked for insurance companies and THEY are the ones creating the BMI charts NOT the government. The insurance lobby pays to have the government enact these BMI charts as what is healthy and what is not. Check out the following for a little eye-opening example of what I’m talking about:
http://kateharding.net/bmi-illustrated/
So....insurance companies are telling everyone to blame fat people for their rising costs of insurance rates. Well...here’s a little newsflash – that’s all bullshit. Fat people can’t get insurance in most cases and if they do, they are paying 3-4 times what everyone else is paying. Also, doctors are so fat-phobic that right now, trying to find a decent doctor is almost impossible, which helps to encourage fat people not to see the doctor. When and if emergencies arise, fat people are treated at the hospital and then go bankrupt when they receive the bills. This, in NO WAY affects anyone’s insurance costs. But the insurance companies won’t tell you that. They’re not about to stand up and say, “Hey! We’re a bunch of money-grubbing greedy bastards and we’re changing the BMI charts and raising costs just because we feel like it and want more money! If we change the BMI charts, we can charge more of you more for your insurance because you’re technically ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’ now – okay? Thanks!” No, they’re going to say, “Hey! Don’t blame us for your costs increasing! Blame those fatties!” All the while skipping to the bank while everyday Americans turn on each other and spend more time getting into everyone else’s business and judging one another rather than paying attention to how things are really functioning in the country. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!
So....yeah....I have issues with being REQUIRED to PAY GOOD MONEY to be FORCED to take this stupid, intrusive class where all of this government-sanctioned PROPAGANDA is being shoved down everyone’s throats. *Ahem* (Sorry about that....let me just get off of my soapbox here and put it back in the corner....) So....yeah. Again, I’m just trying to stay cool, keep my head down, and survive the semester. Wish me luck y’all.
So....that is the latest here. Lots and lots of homework this semester with five classes, one being a math class and two being science classes so....updates will be sparse. But as things progress I’m sure I’ll wander by with little tidbits and anecdotes. So....until then...back to the Biology reading and note-taking.
Cheers all – thanks for reading.
All in all, 2010 was not the worst ever for me. I made some major life changes and moved schools, had some interesting experiences and learned a lot. Going back to school was a very intimidating thought for me in the beginning, but now I feel much more confident in my learning and studying abilities and for the most part I’m enjoying the educational experience.
Last semester was very intense. My Comp II class was very challenging for me, and Spanish I was a whole new experience in torture, but I persevered and managed to end the semester with a 4.0. :) I was very, very excited and happy with that.
I am now moving into my final semester at CF. In all honesty, switching to CF from Rasmussen was pretty much the best decision I’ve made educationally. Rasmussen was not able to give me the kind of education I was looking for, and CF has allowed me to ease back into the real college environment and get prepared for transferring to a regular four-year college. I’ve had issues with wrangling with financial aid, and some of my instructors have been a bit hmmm....not great, but the actual experience and education at CF is heads and shoulders above anything Rasmussen could have hoped to offer and I am really, really happy.
Moving forward, classes have now begun for my last semester at CF. I’m both excited by this and a little anxious. I know that these next couple of months will be challenging, but also that they will fly by and I will be dealing with moving schools, moving states, trying to find work and a place to live and things are going to be very, very crazy. That aspect of things I am not looking forward to. But I am looking forward to moving on in my education and getting closer to my educational goals.
I made the most of my time off from school during winter break by picking up some writing books and got some really great writing done over the break. I also spent some time with the family and was able to enjoy the Christmas holiday with my family all together for the first time in about 14 years. So it was a good break, very palate cleansing, and I have returned to classes refreshed and ready to learn.
My first classes were Liberal Arts Math and Acting I. From the syllabus posted online, I had the feeling that my Liberal Arts Math instructor might be a bit of a dick, and he didn’t disappoint in our first lecture and going over the syllabus. However, he did explain things in a very knowledgeable manner and I’m hopeful that as the semester progresses, he will warm up to us and us to him. We have already covered the first chapter and will have our first exam next Wednesday. I have already had to make use of the math lab on campus and am asking lots and lots and lots of questions during the chapter reviews before the test. He’s been very helpful and knowledgeable in answering the questions so....I have hope that I can survive this class this semester.
My Acting class so far has been fun and I’m looking forward to getting more and more involved in that class. I think it’s definitely a better choice than yet another public speaking class. I’ve taken tons of those and there’s no challenge in it for me. This class will have some challenges involved, which will be nice. All of the other people in the class are sooooo young though. They’re shiny and new and just....way too energetic. There are some getting-to-know you game activities that remind me of team-building exercises from when I worked at various jobs (and I am not comfortable with those kinds of exercises), but I am trying to play along and allow myself a little freedom. Most of all, I hope this class helps me get a handle on voice, movement, blocking, and other aspects for my animating in the future, and also helps me with being able to perform my own poetry and short stories at slams and readings. Wish me luck!
My Biology and Wellness classes are the banes of my existence this semester and really irritate me personally on many levels. To start off with, my Biology professor is about 70, getting ready to retire, and just really doesn’t want to work anymore. Every lecture is a series of vignettes and stories he tells where he gets off topic, and they are very sexist and insulting on many levels. He also has “offered” people opt-outs on the final if you a) do 20 hours of community service, b) give blood, c) agree to be an organ donor, or d) engage in a weight loss program during the semester. Well....I’m not a convict and I have limited amounts of time so option A is out for me. I do not believe in giving blood or organ donation/transplants so B and C are out and as far as D is concerned, that is just really inappropriately getting into people’s personal business in my opinion. He’s already informed us that he’s been a coach for however long and loves to call people fat, etc. and that.....is just not the kind of stuff to say around me. I don’t appreciate the sexism and I don’t appreciate a professor using a position of authority to pass judgments on others. Especially not for a class I am paying for. However, I am holding my tongue and just keeping my head down, doing the work and trying to make it through the semester. Unfortunately, this instructor is also the instructor for my lab class so....woe is me.
This “Wellness” class is yet another serious irritation point for me. I’m a bit offended (actually, a LOT offended) by being required, at a state college, to pay for a class that is pushing agendas from the insurance and drug lobbies. The instructor for this class also requires gym days and I have already spoken to her about the fact that unless she is an M.D. with the credentials to back up dealing with my injuries, I’m not doing anything against my well-being. This course REQUIRES you to create a “wellness plan,” and engage in enacting it during the class. This just....irks me on many levels. If I want to change anything about my life, I will do so on my own. I don’t appreciate paying my good money to be forced to take a class that intrudes on my privacy and personal business. It just....really rubs me the wrong way. Plus, I’m almost 40 damn years old – if I wanted to take gym, I’d go back to high school. Ugh. The instructor is all very into the propaganda being enacted in our society through the Big Brother Just Wants You To Be Healthy campaigns, which is just another way for the government and insurance and drug lobbies to keep Americans occupied getting into one another’s business rather than noticing what is being done, and not done, in our country.
Not sure what I’m talking about? Here’s an example. Big Brother tells you to blame the fatties for the high costs of insurance – it costs so much to keep fatties alive right? WRONG! I’ve worked for insurance companies and THEY are the ones creating the BMI charts NOT the government. The insurance lobby pays to have the government enact these BMI charts as what is healthy and what is not. Check out the following for a little eye-opening example of what I’m talking about:
http://kateharding.net/bmi-illustrated/
So....insurance companies are telling everyone to blame fat people for their rising costs of insurance rates. Well...here’s a little newsflash – that’s all bullshit. Fat people can’t get insurance in most cases and if they do, they are paying 3-4 times what everyone else is paying. Also, doctors are so fat-phobic that right now, trying to find a decent doctor is almost impossible, which helps to encourage fat people not to see the doctor. When and if emergencies arise, fat people are treated at the hospital and then go bankrupt when they receive the bills. This, in NO WAY affects anyone’s insurance costs. But the insurance companies won’t tell you that. They’re not about to stand up and say, “Hey! We’re a bunch of money-grubbing greedy bastards and we’re changing the BMI charts and raising costs just because we feel like it and want more money! If we change the BMI charts, we can charge more of you more for your insurance because you’re technically ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’ now – okay? Thanks!” No, they’re going to say, “Hey! Don’t blame us for your costs increasing! Blame those fatties!” All the while skipping to the bank while everyday Americans turn on each other and spend more time getting into everyone else’s business and judging one another rather than paying attention to how things are really functioning in the country. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!
So....yeah....I have issues with being REQUIRED to PAY GOOD MONEY to be FORCED to take this stupid, intrusive class where all of this government-sanctioned PROPAGANDA is being shoved down everyone’s throats. *Ahem* (Sorry about that....let me just get off of my soapbox here and put it back in the corner....) So....yeah. Again, I’m just trying to stay cool, keep my head down, and survive the semester. Wish me luck y’all.
So....that is the latest here. Lots and lots of homework this semester with five classes, one being a math class and two being science classes so....updates will be sparse. But as things progress I’m sure I’ll wander by with little tidbits and anecdotes. So....until then...back to the Biology reading and note-taking.
Cheers all – thanks for reading.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Who Says You Can't Go Home Again?
Greetings all. :)
Hope everyone had good Turkey Days. Mine was filled with homework, homework, and then, for a change of pace, some homework. :) Finals time is upon us. This upcoming week is the last of regular classes, then it's finals week, then a nice winter break until classes start again on the 5th of January. The workload is crazy and I'm pretty much just focusing on Spanish. I feel very confident in my Microcomputer Applications class so....that's kind of a gimme grade. :) It's always nice to have one of those every semester. Comp II is going well, I think, but I have not as yet received my research paper grade. I do know that my group got the highest score on our poetry unit test so...that's all going well. I'm not worried about passing that class. I'm currently putting the finishing touches on my Humanities paper on Hannah Senesh. Then it's just a matter of studying for that final. Luckily, some of it will come from the mid-term so that helps. I feel fairly confident about that test and class. Spanish is my trouble spot. Our recent three-unit test really kicked my ass. I'm having so much trouble with the uses of ser and estar and the preterite tenses....woe is me. I did have an A in the class before that test, which I got a 74 on. Happily, she graded on a curve and I noticed much, much worse grades than mine so....hope springs eternal. We have one last vocab test on Tuesday that can help bolster a grade, and I'm getting 100's on all of my homework so....keep your fingers crossed on that for me.
My classes for next semester are already scheduled and then sometime mid-January I will fill out the paperwork to graduate and will then have an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts in May. :) My diploma I got in Business Computer Applications back in '90 does not seem like a real college degree of any kind (and isn't counted as one either), so this will be my first real college degree and I'm very excited. This experience at CF has been really good. I'm looking forward to next semester and the classes. Liberal Arts Math....maybe not so much. Nor their "Personal Wellness" class. But I always enjoyed science classes in lower school years, so I'm looking forward to Biology and the lab. I'm also curious to see how my Acting class goes. I'm hoping that class will be fun.
As for the future, there have been more developments in that department. Truth be told, I have never had any desire, whatsoever, to live in Orlando. I don't even like driving down there. But for the purpose of the future, I resigned myself to Orlando and UCF because I am determined to complete my education and get into animated film. However, like Rasmussen (grrr!), UCF's programming is not animation specific. It is a digital media program that employs aspects like web design (which I hate), and regular design classes which do not interest me. So....I've been not exactly excited about the future of my education, but more accepting that UCF would be a better fit than UF or any of the other schools here. I had checked out programming back in Seattle (home! I miss you!!) and other parts of the country, and UCF seemed to be the better deal. UNTIL....I had a discussion with my mother. I don't know what prompted it, but we were discussing education and the subject of SMSU came up. That is the university she went to in Springfield, Missouri and she enjoyed going there. It has recently come to my attention that the education I received in the Springfield public school system was exemplary and head and shoulders above anything offered here in Florida by far. Anyhow, when she mentioned SMS (now MSU) I decided to check them out online. WHAT A STROKE OF LUCK!!!! For a small-town school, they have an AMAZING program for Computer Animation that is just about computer animation. Capstone projects that are computer animation. AND they offer a Screenwriting minor! The course descriptions and coursework are so exciting and so much better than UCF! Plus, honestly, I hate Florida, I always have. It's simply where I've ended up at this point in life, but it's certainly not somewhere I have any desire to remain. But I am an Ozark Mountain girl at heart and would like to live somewhere with four real seasons again.
So....instead of heading to UCF next fall, I will be moving back to mighty MO and starting classes at MSU. They, like UCF, give priority admission to those transfer students with a completed Associates degree so I feel fairly confident about admission. I'm excited to head to a school with better educational opportunity and a program more tailored to exactly the type of work I want to be doing upon graduation. So....we'll see if it's true that you can't go home again. :) I have not been back to Springfield in well over 20 years so it will be interesting so see how things have changed. But the eye is still on the prize - - completing my degree and then hopefully interning somewhere like Pixar, then eventually moving on to completing my own animated films and living back in my beloved Seattle. So...changes are afoot as always.
Wish me luck with these finals y'all - I need it! Cheers!
Hope everyone had good Turkey Days. Mine was filled with homework, homework, and then, for a change of pace, some homework. :) Finals time is upon us. This upcoming week is the last of regular classes, then it's finals week, then a nice winter break until classes start again on the 5th of January. The workload is crazy and I'm pretty much just focusing on Spanish. I feel very confident in my Microcomputer Applications class so....that's kind of a gimme grade. :) It's always nice to have one of those every semester. Comp II is going well, I think, but I have not as yet received my research paper grade. I do know that my group got the highest score on our poetry unit test so...that's all going well. I'm not worried about passing that class. I'm currently putting the finishing touches on my Humanities paper on Hannah Senesh. Then it's just a matter of studying for that final. Luckily, some of it will come from the mid-term so that helps. I feel fairly confident about that test and class. Spanish is my trouble spot. Our recent three-unit test really kicked my ass. I'm having so much trouble with the uses of ser and estar and the preterite tenses....woe is me. I did have an A in the class before that test, which I got a 74 on. Happily, she graded on a curve and I noticed much, much worse grades than mine so....hope springs eternal. We have one last vocab test on Tuesday that can help bolster a grade, and I'm getting 100's on all of my homework so....keep your fingers crossed on that for me.
My classes for next semester are already scheduled and then sometime mid-January I will fill out the paperwork to graduate and will then have an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts in May. :) My diploma I got in Business Computer Applications back in '90 does not seem like a real college degree of any kind (and isn't counted as one either), so this will be my first real college degree and I'm very excited. This experience at CF has been really good. I'm looking forward to next semester and the classes. Liberal Arts Math....maybe not so much. Nor their "Personal Wellness" class. But I always enjoyed science classes in lower school years, so I'm looking forward to Biology and the lab. I'm also curious to see how my Acting class goes. I'm hoping that class will be fun.
As for the future, there have been more developments in that department. Truth be told, I have never had any desire, whatsoever, to live in Orlando. I don't even like driving down there. But for the purpose of the future, I resigned myself to Orlando and UCF because I am determined to complete my education and get into animated film. However, like Rasmussen (grrr!), UCF's programming is not animation specific. It is a digital media program that employs aspects like web design (which I hate), and regular design classes which do not interest me. So....I've been not exactly excited about the future of my education, but more accepting that UCF would be a better fit than UF or any of the other schools here. I had checked out programming back in Seattle (home! I miss you!!) and other parts of the country, and UCF seemed to be the better deal. UNTIL....I had a discussion with my mother. I don't know what prompted it, but we were discussing education and the subject of SMSU came up. That is the university she went to in Springfield, Missouri and she enjoyed going there. It has recently come to my attention that the education I received in the Springfield public school system was exemplary and head and shoulders above anything offered here in Florida by far. Anyhow, when she mentioned SMS (now MSU) I decided to check them out online. WHAT A STROKE OF LUCK!!!! For a small-town school, they have an AMAZING program for Computer Animation that is just about computer animation. Capstone projects that are computer animation. AND they offer a Screenwriting minor! The course descriptions and coursework are so exciting and so much better than UCF! Plus, honestly, I hate Florida, I always have. It's simply where I've ended up at this point in life, but it's certainly not somewhere I have any desire to remain. But I am an Ozark Mountain girl at heart and would like to live somewhere with four real seasons again.
So....instead of heading to UCF next fall, I will be moving back to mighty MO and starting classes at MSU. They, like UCF, give priority admission to those transfer students with a completed Associates degree so I feel fairly confident about admission. I'm excited to head to a school with better educational opportunity and a program more tailored to exactly the type of work I want to be doing upon graduation. So....we'll see if it's true that you can't go home again. :) I have not been back to Springfield in well over 20 years so it will be interesting so see how things have changed. But the eye is still on the prize - - completing my degree and then hopefully interning somewhere like Pixar, then eventually moving on to completing my own animated films and living back in my beloved Seattle. So...changes are afoot as always.
Wish me luck with these finals y'all - I need it! Cheers!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Contemplation
Hey all.
Sorry it's been a while but life has been busy. CF really is a different world from any college I've attended before and seems to be a good transitional experience to a regular four-year university. As such, the workload is hella intense and keeps me busy.
We've just passed mid-term week. I only had one "real" mid-term. That was in my Humanities class. That class has not really improved over time. Mostly we sit and listen to the instructor drone over Powerpoint presentations for the entire class time and you can literally feel the minutes of your life slipping away. The mid-term was a fill-in-the-blank type test instead of the standard Scantron, so that sucked fairly majorly. Twelve chapters of information to study to figure out what is required for 20 questions. Even with a review day, it was still way too much to process. I think I maybe scraped a C, but I won't know until Tuesday. Everyone in my class agrees that while no one likes a quiz after every chapter or whatever, a little reinforcement at the end of every chapter would help to get the information straight in our minds. We'll see what comes of it all once the grades come out. Luckily, the mid-term was just practice and doesn't count toward our grade. We are only given scores for a research paper and our final exam so....I need to kick out one hella good paper and study like a crazy woman for the final. I'm getting to know some people in the class and we have a good time.
English Comp II is a bit of a challenge. Our instructor is kind of a world-class wench and tends to change her mind on what she wants from day to day. Makes the writing assignments a little difficult. We didn't have a mid-term per se, but we were tested this week on the end of the short story fiction section of the class. I feel pretty confident on my test. She is very different from my previous writing instructors in that she is obsessive about word count. She also like a lot of in-text citation, which I was always instructed was lazy writing so....my usual happy place this class is not. We have a major paper due in that class as well that I am still struggling to come up with a thesis about. I have the book I'm going to use, but it's not really one of my choosing and so finding something to write about, in conjunction with 10 (10!) literary criticisms which she requires as research is a bit difficult. I've never had an instructor ask for more than 5 sources for any paper so....yeah. That's going on.
My Microcomputer class is pretty much lab time every week. I have a solid 100% and I don't touch any of it until class time. I'm so far ahead of the rest of the class that I will be out of things to do entirely very soon, but the instructor is cool and just lets me work ahead. No worries on that front.
Spanish is going well. I have a solid A and if I am very, very lucky, this will be the last Spanish class I will have to take. I feel confident about the class so that's good and I'm making friends in that class too.
The financial aid situation at CF continues to be an on-going struggle. They are not good at all when it comes to communicating with students and one must continually check in with them to make sure they are processing your file. I finally found one person to meet with and she introduced me to an actual counselor who helped me to see what classes remain for me to get my AA and also helped me to realize that the admissions people had put me in the wrong major. Good info to know. Scheduling will begin for Spring semester soon. I'm actually enjoying my time at CF. With the amount of classes I need, I will have three more semesters to get my AA. It's a longer wait to get to UCF, but you get priority admission in Florida with the AA so it's well worth it. I also discovered that I can take some alternative classes for requirements that I did not know about. For example, for my Oral Communications requirement I can take the Public Speaking the admissions rep told me about OR I can take a writing class OR an acting class. So....options, I likes them. ;)
All the present focus on required courses and general education requirements kind of makes me feel like my design muscles are going to atrophy, but the more time passes, the more I find myself wondering about the path of my future. UCF's Digital Media program is still the current goal, but I have always had other interests and I am wondering now if perhaps tweaking my goals might make better sense in the long run.
I still feel very passionately about the power of the film media and animated film in particular. I also think education is extremely important and being in Florida, and having worked in their elementary education system, I can foresee the death of public education as we have all known it in the very near future. That said, what of digital media in a newer age with more home or private schooling? Won't education need to become more dynamic to keep interest and convey messages? I think it will and I would be interested in being a part of that movement.
Education has always interested me. I've always thought it might be interesting to teach somewhere around the 7th-9th grade English classes. Having been exposed to the Second Step educational materials, knowing the impact those kinds of lessons can have on young minds, and seeing the recent waves of teens suicides, it makes me wonder if a new kind of curriculum and learning isn't desperately needed. I would be very interested in being a part of something that works for the greater good.
I come from a family of worker bees. Being particularly artistic without any final dollar amount of income in mind has never really been encouraged. I tend to be the family black sheep who marches to the beat of her own drummer. As such, I can totally see working as a teacher for minimal income if I know I am making a difference in the world. Working at Pixar making beaucoup de bucks would be sweet, but in reality, even filmmaking in my mind needs to have a purpose, a message, something positive sent out in the world to educate and impact and inform. So....I am wondering about majors, minors and other courses, plus trying to learn of some new ways forward. All this while trying to work on my own writing and art and studying and such. Life is full, even without calls about jobs. C'est la vie.
I'm not a religious person, but I do consider myself to be spiritual and I do have faith. As such, I feel with great conviction that at this moment, I am on exactly the path I am meant to be following, and that I have everything I need, even if not everything I want. And in that much, I'm contented and after my recent dark period, it's a very good feeling. :)
Education goes on. Finals are in December and then a long break until mid-January and Spring semester. In the meantime, it's pretty much the same old same old. Even with all the financial aid mayhem and drama, I'm still very glad I left Rasmussen when I did and that I am at CF. I am making friends and enjoying the campus and a real college experience, even if I am a couple of decades late in having it. Until later y'all! Peace!
Sorry it's been a while but life has been busy. CF really is a different world from any college I've attended before and seems to be a good transitional experience to a regular four-year university. As such, the workload is hella intense and keeps me busy.
We've just passed mid-term week. I only had one "real" mid-term. That was in my Humanities class. That class has not really improved over time. Mostly we sit and listen to the instructor drone over Powerpoint presentations for the entire class time and you can literally feel the minutes of your life slipping away. The mid-term was a fill-in-the-blank type test instead of the standard Scantron, so that sucked fairly majorly. Twelve chapters of information to study to figure out what is required for 20 questions. Even with a review day, it was still way too much to process. I think I maybe scraped a C, but I won't know until Tuesday. Everyone in my class agrees that while no one likes a quiz after every chapter or whatever, a little reinforcement at the end of every chapter would help to get the information straight in our minds. We'll see what comes of it all once the grades come out. Luckily, the mid-term was just practice and doesn't count toward our grade. We are only given scores for a research paper and our final exam so....I need to kick out one hella good paper and study like a crazy woman for the final. I'm getting to know some people in the class and we have a good time.
English Comp II is a bit of a challenge. Our instructor is kind of a world-class wench and tends to change her mind on what she wants from day to day. Makes the writing assignments a little difficult. We didn't have a mid-term per se, but we were tested this week on the end of the short story fiction section of the class. I feel pretty confident on my test. She is very different from my previous writing instructors in that she is obsessive about word count. She also like a lot of in-text citation, which I was always instructed was lazy writing so....my usual happy place this class is not. We have a major paper due in that class as well that I am still struggling to come up with a thesis about. I have the book I'm going to use, but it's not really one of my choosing and so finding something to write about, in conjunction with 10 (10!) literary criticisms which she requires as research is a bit difficult. I've never had an instructor ask for more than 5 sources for any paper so....yeah. That's going on.
My Microcomputer class is pretty much lab time every week. I have a solid 100% and I don't touch any of it until class time. I'm so far ahead of the rest of the class that I will be out of things to do entirely very soon, but the instructor is cool and just lets me work ahead. No worries on that front.
Spanish is going well. I have a solid A and if I am very, very lucky, this will be the last Spanish class I will have to take. I feel confident about the class so that's good and I'm making friends in that class too.
The financial aid situation at CF continues to be an on-going struggle. They are not good at all when it comes to communicating with students and one must continually check in with them to make sure they are processing your file. I finally found one person to meet with and she introduced me to an actual counselor who helped me to see what classes remain for me to get my AA and also helped me to realize that the admissions people had put me in the wrong major. Good info to know. Scheduling will begin for Spring semester soon. I'm actually enjoying my time at CF. With the amount of classes I need, I will have three more semesters to get my AA. It's a longer wait to get to UCF, but you get priority admission in Florida with the AA so it's well worth it. I also discovered that I can take some alternative classes for requirements that I did not know about. For example, for my Oral Communications requirement I can take the Public Speaking the admissions rep told me about OR I can take a writing class OR an acting class. So....options, I likes them. ;)
All the present focus on required courses and general education requirements kind of makes me feel like my design muscles are going to atrophy, but the more time passes, the more I find myself wondering about the path of my future. UCF's Digital Media program is still the current goal, but I have always had other interests and I am wondering now if perhaps tweaking my goals might make better sense in the long run.
I still feel very passionately about the power of the film media and animated film in particular. I also think education is extremely important and being in Florida, and having worked in their elementary education system, I can foresee the death of public education as we have all known it in the very near future. That said, what of digital media in a newer age with more home or private schooling? Won't education need to become more dynamic to keep interest and convey messages? I think it will and I would be interested in being a part of that movement.
Education has always interested me. I've always thought it might be interesting to teach somewhere around the 7th-9th grade English classes. Having been exposed to the Second Step educational materials, knowing the impact those kinds of lessons can have on young minds, and seeing the recent waves of teens suicides, it makes me wonder if a new kind of curriculum and learning isn't desperately needed. I would be very interested in being a part of something that works for the greater good.
I come from a family of worker bees. Being particularly artistic without any final dollar amount of income in mind has never really been encouraged. I tend to be the family black sheep who marches to the beat of her own drummer. As such, I can totally see working as a teacher for minimal income if I know I am making a difference in the world. Working at Pixar making beaucoup de bucks would be sweet, but in reality, even filmmaking in my mind needs to have a purpose, a message, something positive sent out in the world to educate and impact and inform. So....I am wondering about majors, minors and other courses, plus trying to learn of some new ways forward. All this while trying to work on my own writing and art and studying and such. Life is full, even without calls about jobs. C'est la vie.
I'm not a religious person, but I do consider myself to be spiritual and I do have faith. As such, I feel with great conviction that at this moment, I am on exactly the path I am meant to be following, and that I have everything I need, even if not everything I want. And in that much, I'm contented and after my recent dark period, it's a very good feeling. :)
Education goes on. Finals are in December and then a long break until mid-January and Spring semester. In the meantime, it's pretty much the same old same old. Even with all the financial aid mayhem and drama, I'm still very glad I left Rasmussen when I did and that I am at CF. I am making friends and enjoying the campus and a real college experience, even if I am a couple of decades late in having it. Until later y'all! Peace!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Fall Semester 2010
Hey there.
So....there is news. :)
First of all, I did not flunk Spanish II. I got a D, but I did not actually get an F. However, the D was not good enough for admittance to UCF (duh) so I am currently still enrolled at CFCC/CCF/CF/Whatever-they're-calling-themselves-now.
After many visits, phone calls, etc., they have finally gotten financial aid worked out and I am taking a full schedule of courses. Interestingly enough, to get the AA degree that they offer to prep students for transferring to a 4-year college, I only need 2 semesters of coursework so it looks like that is what I will do, Fall and Spring at CF and then transfer to UCF for next fall.
My schedule for this semester is as follows:
Microcomputer Applications. This is basically a Microsoft Office 2007 course. I already know this stuff, but it's a requirement and hopefully an easy A class. It meets in one of CF's computer labs and their labs are 8 million percent better than anything Rasmussen had to offer. I still feel so ripped off by Rasmussen. If there was a way, I'd try to get my money back. The teacher is an older lady, but seems super nice and the coursework should not be too hard at all. I never actually took any classes on Access so I'm hoping I might learn something there. We shall see.
Freshman Composition II. Another required class. I always enjoy English and writing classes so this should be good. The teacher is another older lady who also teaches at one of the local high schools. She's been teaching close to 30 years and it shows. You can tell she's the teacher the high school kids hope they don't get. All in all though, should be a good class, I hope.
Spanish I. Back to the Spanish drawing board. Same teacher as my online Spanish II class last semester and it actually meets in the same classroom I had Statistics in (little bit of trivia there). Looks like it's going to be intensive, but I found some books she recommended at the college library (which, incidentally, is an AWESOME library!), so I'm feeling good about starting over here.
Introduction to the Humanities. Yet one more required course. While waiting for the classroom to open, myself and another older student noticed this skinny, ponytailed dude in all black being led around by an administrative aide explaining things to him and we both had a sinking feeling he was going to be our instructor. Yep, he was. When he wrote his name on the board, I got another sinking feeling as he is a Rev. Dr. and has a fruity, hippy name. Turns out he's a "minister" at "an interfaith church" where "we love everyone equally" and I....threw up a little in my mouth. Ugh. He's a real space cadet this one. He thinks he's amusing and gets upset when people don't laugh at his not-funny jokes and comments. There are a LOT of young kids in this class (I feel so old) and so this is going to be the hard class this semester I can tell. Surviving these lectures is going to be hard. Just the first intro meeting class was the longest hour and a half of my life. I hope he gets organized and can get things on track, otherwise I'm going to have to invest in no-doze. The class has the potential to be interesting, and the book looks very interesting so....we'll see if he can step it up at all. And also as a side note - a ponytail? Really? Dude, the 60's called - they want their look back.
So....that's the situation currently. CF is actually more like a "real" college than anywhere I've attended before, so I think these two semesters will help me transition better to a four-year college. Now that the financial aid seems to be all squared away, I was able to get my books and have everything I need. As with Rasmussen, I'll post and share what I can as the semester continues. But things are looking up and I'm really feeling much better, more motivated, and more excited about learning again. Yay! That's the latest! Cheers!
So....there is news. :)
First of all, I did not flunk Spanish II. I got a D, but I did not actually get an F. However, the D was not good enough for admittance to UCF (duh) so I am currently still enrolled at CFCC/CCF/CF/Whatever-they're-calling-themselves-now.
After many visits, phone calls, etc., they have finally gotten financial aid worked out and I am taking a full schedule of courses. Interestingly enough, to get the AA degree that they offer to prep students for transferring to a 4-year college, I only need 2 semesters of coursework so it looks like that is what I will do, Fall and Spring at CF and then transfer to UCF for next fall.
My schedule for this semester is as follows:
Microcomputer Applications. This is basically a Microsoft Office 2007 course. I already know this stuff, but it's a requirement and hopefully an easy A class. It meets in one of CF's computer labs and their labs are 8 million percent better than anything Rasmussen had to offer. I still feel so ripped off by Rasmussen. If there was a way, I'd try to get my money back. The teacher is an older lady, but seems super nice and the coursework should not be too hard at all. I never actually took any classes on Access so I'm hoping I might learn something there. We shall see.
Freshman Composition II. Another required class. I always enjoy English and writing classes so this should be good. The teacher is another older lady who also teaches at one of the local high schools. She's been teaching close to 30 years and it shows. You can tell she's the teacher the high school kids hope they don't get. All in all though, should be a good class, I hope.
Spanish I. Back to the Spanish drawing board. Same teacher as my online Spanish II class last semester and it actually meets in the same classroom I had Statistics in (little bit of trivia there). Looks like it's going to be intensive, but I found some books she recommended at the college library (which, incidentally, is an AWESOME library!), so I'm feeling good about starting over here.
Introduction to the Humanities. Yet one more required course. While waiting for the classroom to open, myself and another older student noticed this skinny, ponytailed dude in all black being led around by an administrative aide explaining things to him and we both had a sinking feeling he was going to be our instructor. Yep, he was. When he wrote his name on the board, I got another sinking feeling as he is a Rev. Dr. and has a fruity, hippy name. Turns out he's a "minister" at "an interfaith church" where "we love everyone equally" and I....threw up a little in my mouth. Ugh. He's a real space cadet this one. He thinks he's amusing and gets upset when people don't laugh at his not-funny jokes and comments. There are a LOT of young kids in this class (I feel so old) and so this is going to be the hard class this semester I can tell. Surviving these lectures is going to be hard. Just the first intro meeting class was the longest hour and a half of my life. I hope he gets organized and can get things on track, otherwise I'm going to have to invest in no-doze. The class has the potential to be interesting, and the book looks very interesting so....we'll see if he can step it up at all. And also as a side note - a ponytail? Really? Dude, the 60's called - they want their look back.
So....that's the situation currently. CF is actually more like a "real" college than anywhere I've attended before, so I think these two semesters will help me transition better to a four-year college. Now that the financial aid seems to be all squared away, I was able to get my books and have everything I need. As with Rasmussen, I'll post and share what I can as the semester continues. But things are looking up and I'm really feeling much better, more motivated, and more excited about learning again. Yay! That's the latest! Cheers!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Educational Update
So....it has once again been a considerable time since my last posting. There's a lot to go over so....let's get to it.
My meeting with CFCC, which is now CCF (College of Central Florida) went well and I was admitted for the summer semester. I managed to get the Statistics class I wanted and also registered for Elementary Spanish II. The semester was just a six week semester and has just come to a close for me today.
As anyone who follows this blog knows, math is not my strong suit so I was very worried about the Statistics course. However, it turned out to be a great experience. The instructor was fabulous and the material was similar to things I did doing data analysis at various jobs. As such, I managed to complete the course with a B+. Not too shabby at all and I'm proud of myself for that accomplishment.
I wish I could say that things with my Spanish II class went as well. Unfortunately, they did not. I had the sinking feeling that my Conversational Spanish class at Rasmussen had not properly prepared me for anything, but since CCF offers Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Spanish classes, I thought I might be in pretty good standing for Elementary Spanish II considering I got an A in my Conversational Spanish class. I thought wrong. The Conversational Spanish class at Rasmussen was a joke and did not give me anywhere near the foundation I needed for Elementary Spanish II. The class workload was insane and EVERYTHING, the book, the instructions, EVERYTHING was in Spanish. I only took the two classes this semester, but the workload ended up being like the quarter I took six classes at Rasmussen.
Despite constantly working my ass off in the class, I ended up failing it. I did the best work I could and everything I could, but without the proper foundation from the first class, I was always three steps behind. It took forever to translate the instructions, then to do the work. The workload was also rather ridiculous really and the instructor seemed to think that the students had nothing else going on but that class for six weeks. There were four websites with work you had to do on them, and every week covered two chapters. I did well on the discussion posts and the vocabulary quizzes, but the verb tenses and changes, as well as the workbook and audio work, completely threw me and I never got above a 53% on any of it. Add to that the fact that I only got a 52% on the final, and my final overall percentage was 59.61%. So....F. I failed. Which sucks and makes me feel about 2 inches tall.
As such, I'm pretty much screwed. I will still submit the transcript to UCF, but without the second foreign language requirement being satisfactorily completed, I doubt they will allow me admission. :(
My next problem, however, is that I cannot move forward with taking any classes at CCF right now. Though I was fully packaged with financial aid at Rasmussen for summer, and for a great deal more than CCF charges, CCF is still dragging their feet on getting any financial aid awarded, so I still have a balance on my account for this summer semester. That, coupled with no financial aid awarded for fall yet, means that I cannot register for any classes. I have been round and round with them about this, submitted all the transcripts and paperwork they wanted, and now they are telling me that they need all of my transcripts entered into their system before they can award anything, and the girl doing it is 2-3 weeks behind. So....I'm screwed.
I don't know what is going to happen now. Monday I will go back to CCF's financial aid office and try to get someone to get something happening with awards. If that is accomplished, I will then move forward with trying to find some classes to take and hopefully find a place in their Elementary Spanish I class so I can get the proper foundation I should have had. I now completely hate the Spanish language by the way.
As I say, I will continue on with submitting my CCF transcript to UCF, but I don't think they'll let me in without that other foreign language requirement. So....I'll just have to do what I can to get it. If CCF cannot get my aid squared away in time for fall semester, however, I have no idea what I am going to do.
So....things are in limbo right now. UCF is still the goal, but some roadblocks have been thrown in my way. I feel like complete and utter shit right now, a real total loser because of failing that class. But at the same time, what more could I do? I did everything I could and worked as hard as I could. I just didn't have the foundation I needed to understand it. Live and learn I guess.
So that is my current status. I will keep y'all apprised of any forward movement. Any good thoughts or energy that could be sent in my general direction would be greatly appreciated. Cheers all!
My meeting with CFCC, which is now CCF (College of Central Florida) went well and I was admitted for the summer semester. I managed to get the Statistics class I wanted and also registered for Elementary Spanish II. The semester was just a six week semester and has just come to a close for me today.
As anyone who follows this blog knows, math is not my strong suit so I was very worried about the Statistics course. However, it turned out to be a great experience. The instructor was fabulous and the material was similar to things I did doing data analysis at various jobs. As such, I managed to complete the course with a B+. Not too shabby at all and I'm proud of myself for that accomplishment.
I wish I could say that things with my Spanish II class went as well. Unfortunately, they did not. I had the sinking feeling that my Conversational Spanish class at Rasmussen had not properly prepared me for anything, but since CCF offers Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Spanish classes, I thought I might be in pretty good standing for Elementary Spanish II considering I got an A in my Conversational Spanish class. I thought wrong. The Conversational Spanish class at Rasmussen was a joke and did not give me anywhere near the foundation I needed for Elementary Spanish II. The class workload was insane and EVERYTHING, the book, the instructions, EVERYTHING was in Spanish. I only took the two classes this semester, but the workload ended up being like the quarter I took six classes at Rasmussen.
Despite constantly working my ass off in the class, I ended up failing it. I did the best work I could and everything I could, but without the proper foundation from the first class, I was always three steps behind. It took forever to translate the instructions, then to do the work. The workload was also rather ridiculous really and the instructor seemed to think that the students had nothing else going on but that class for six weeks. There were four websites with work you had to do on them, and every week covered two chapters. I did well on the discussion posts and the vocabulary quizzes, but the verb tenses and changes, as well as the workbook and audio work, completely threw me and I never got above a 53% on any of it. Add to that the fact that I only got a 52% on the final, and my final overall percentage was 59.61%. So....F. I failed. Which sucks and makes me feel about 2 inches tall.
As such, I'm pretty much screwed. I will still submit the transcript to UCF, but without the second foreign language requirement being satisfactorily completed, I doubt they will allow me admission. :(
My next problem, however, is that I cannot move forward with taking any classes at CCF right now. Though I was fully packaged with financial aid at Rasmussen for summer, and for a great deal more than CCF charges, CCF is still dragging their feet on getting any financial aid awarded, so I still have a balance on my account for this summer semester. That, coupled with no financial aid awarded for fall yet, means that I cannot register for any classes. I have been round and round with them about this, submitted all the transcripts and paperwork they wanted, and now they are telling me that they need all of my transcripts entered into their system before they can award anything, and the girl doing it is 2-3 weeks behind. So....I'm screwed.
I don't know what is going to happen now. Monday I will go back to CCF's financial aid office and try to get someone to get something happening with awards. If that is accomplished, I will then move forward with trying to find some classes to take and hopefully find a place in their Elementary Spanish I class so I can get the proper foundation I should have had. I now completely hate the Spanish language by the way.
As I say, I will continue on with submitting my CCF transcript to UCF, but I don't think they'll let me in without that other foreign language requirement. So....I'll just have to do what I can to get it. If CCF cannot get my aid squared away in time for fall semester, however, I have no idea what I am going to do.
So....things are in limbo right now. UCF is still the goal, but some roadblocks have been thrown in my way. I feel like complete and utter shit right now, a real total loser because of failing that class. But at the same time, what more could I do? I did everything I could and worked as hard as I could. I just didn't have the foundation I needed to understand it. Live and learn I guess.
So that is my current status. I will keep y'all apprised of any forward movement. Any good thoughts or energy that could be sent in my general direction would be greatly appreciated. Cheers all!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
It's Been A While.....
...hey there y'all. :)
So it has indeed been quite a while since I updated this school blog. Part of it has been that I have been very, very busy. The other part has been because I have been becoming more and more dissatisfied with the educational experience I have been having.
To start off, when I decided to go back to school, it was a decision I thought long and hard about before committing to. Returning to school costs a lot of money and is a very big commitment to make.
I had seen the old Webster College building with it's scrolling marquee sign for a while and watched as it turned into Rasmussen College. Being that it was just a little one-building looking place, and having already been to something considered more a "vocational" college than a real university, I pretty much ignored it.
However, I happened to receive a postcard mailing about an open house they were having about their technology and design programs. Being in the worst county in Florida for unemployment, and having been without steady work for a while, it seemed the time might be right to look into a return to school and into finally completing a Bachelor's degree.
So I went to the open house and while the building wasn't spectacular and the inside not a whole lot better, what was interesting was talking to the people and seeing the presentations. Digital media, and most specifically animation, is something that I have been interested in for a very long time. It was interesting to me to find some place here in dinky old Ocala that had that kind of programming. I jumped right into taking the placement testing, working with an admissions rep, and actually met with the director of the entire Technology and Design program for all of the Rasmussen campuses, and I liked what he had to say. He mentioned wanting Rasmussen to be one of the "go-to" schools for design, and said that he thought it was important to get more women into the design field. So....I signed up, registered, and started classes.
As an older student going back to school, I started this blog to chronicle the journey. To keep a diary if you will of the experience not only for friends and family to read and follow, but for myself to see my own growth. I believe I have grown throughout this process.
But, also as an older student, and someone that has worked at a major university, I know problems when I see them. I've been involved in the business world in one capacity or another since the age of 16. So when I started to see problems with the school, when I started noticing issues in the programming, then I started to lose my faith in the experience. And unlike a lot of the younger students at Rasmussen, I'm not afraid to speak up, voice my concerns, and push back when I'm being told to make due with substandard situations and classes, and I have no problem taking my business elsewhere when it becomes apparent that things are not what they appeared in the beginning to be.
This quarter has been about the worst ever so far in my education at Rasmussen. There have been issues with textbooks, software incompatibility, computer lab issues, online class issues (that if you scroll back you will see I have been having since the very beginning with the online design classes), and one massive issue with an instructor in my Conversational Spanish class. All of this has led me to stop enjoying the educational process.
I've always been a perpetual student. I love to learn new things and get excited at the prospect of challenging myself with new software applications and learning new ways of doing things. I stalked the online classes when I first began, unable to wait to see the new assignments every week and dive into the newness of it all. Over the last two quarters, that shine has definitely come off. Now I must drag myself to the campus, force myself to access the online classroom, and dread opening the books and "dealing" with the work. This feeling, this unhappiness, has caused me a lot of stress this quarter.
I could sit here and laundry list every single issue that Rasmussen has, but I'm not going to. For one thing, it would have no purpose, and for another, I'm tired of thinking about it and dealing with it. What I can say is that it has become apparent to me lately, and over the course of this quarter especially, that I've been rooked. Scammed. Taken for a ride. Pick your metaphor. And this makes me sad, angry, irritated, and tired of the whole damn thing. I hate that I've wasted all this time at a school that does not really care about its students, nor about helping them to succeed in their goals. I'm pissed off at the exorbitant amount of money I have spent to go there when I have now found that one of the premiere digital design programs is only an hour and a half away and $300 less per credit hour. I'm sick of dealing with scheduling issues and nonsense. I'm just over it all.
So....in an attempt to regain that spark, that excitement for learning, I went and met with an admissions representative from the University of Central Florida in Orlando. And it was refreshing! The programming is exciting! And it's a real college, with a real curriculum that includes great elective classes, not just the junk ones that Rasmussen offers. It's a nice campus, friendly people, and a chance for me to have the real college experience I never had.
I will have to go to a local community college for one semester (hopefully this summer) and take another math class and a second Spanish class (oh help!) to get the full requirements for admission to UCF. If all goes well, and I can get into CFCC (or whatever they're calling themselves now) for this summer quarter, and get those two classes done, then I can head to Orlando and UCF in the Fall. I think a lot of my gen ed classes will transfer, but I think I'm going to end up back at square one with the design classes. However, their animation program is much more advanced and I am, once again, excited at the prospect of learning. Already I can feel they have a real commitment to seeing their students succeed, not just in getting people in the door and rooked into whatever lackluster programming they want to provide.
I wish I had done a bit more research about other programs in the area. I did check UF, and Rasmussen's program looked better than that, but I never thought about UCF until a friend mentioned it. Turns out my sister-in-law is an alumni from there and sings its praises. I guess you have to sometimes take the long way to finding the right place to be. Life is weird that way sometimes.
So....I am hoping to start back up with this blog and continue to chronicle the newness and experience of an old bird going back to the books. :) Hopefully these new changes can reignite that spark and snark and make this blog something fun to read again.
As far as the current situation, I am in Week 9 of this current quarter. It feels like it's been going on FOREVER. But, just 2 more weeks to go and then it's done. On Monday I will meet with CFCC to see about summer quarter. Worst case scenario is I can't get into their summer programming because the deadline has passed, but the admissions rep from UCF seemed to indicate that I might be able to make it in under the wire. He also said that as long as I am registered and taking those final two courses, I can apply to UCF and should be good for admittance in the fall. Another great thing about UCF is that the work placement service I use is closer down there and might be able to find me some good work too. So hopefully this is all moving in the right, positive direction.
Thanks for hanging with me y'all and if you would, please keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck! I'm still aiming for nomination for that Animation Short Film Oscar no less then 2 years after graduation. :) Still wanting to intern at Pixar. Those plans are still in motion.
I leave you with this thought - it's never to late to follow your bliss and find that thing that makes you happy and go for it! If you haven't found it yet, what are you waiting for? Life's too short to spend it unhappy - find your spark and shine! :) And also, never let anyone tell you to make due with something less than what you want and deserve. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one has the power to make you feel inferior without your consent." Never, ever, give anyone that. At the end of the day, the best advocate you have for your life is you - DON'T SETTLE! Cheers! :)
So it has indeed been quite a while since I updated this school blog. Part of it has been that I have been very, very busy. The other part has been because I have been becoming more and more dissatisfied with the educational experience I have been having.
To start off, when I decided to go back to school, it was a decision I thought long and hard about before committing to. Returning to school costs a lot of money and is a very big commitment to make.
I had seen the old Webster College building with it's scrolling marquee sign for a while and watched as it turned into Rasmussen College. Being that it was just a little one-building looking place, and having already been to something considered more a "vocational" college than a real university, I pretty much ignored it.
However, I happened to receive a postcard mailing about an open house they were having about their technology and design programs. Being in the worst county in Florida for unemployment, and having been without steady work for a while, it seemed the time might be right to look into a return to school and into finally completing a Bachelor's degree.
So I went to the open house and while the building wasn't spectacular and the inside not a whole lot better, what was interesting was talking to the people and seeing the presentations. Digital media, and most specifically animation, is something that I have been interested in for a very long time. It was interesting to me to find some place here in dinky old Ocala that had that kind of programming. I jumped right into taking the placement testing, working with an admissions rep, and actually met with the director of the entire Technology and Design program for all of the Rasmussen campuses, and I liked what he had to say. He mentioned wanting Rasmussen to be one of the "go-to" schools for design, and said that he thought it was important to get more women into the design field. So....I signed up, registered, and started classes.
As an older student going back to school, I started this blog to chronicle the journey. To keep a diary if you will of the experience not only for friends and family to read and follow, but for myself to see my own growth. I believe I have grown throughout this process.
But, also as an older student, and someone that has worked at a major university, I know problems when I see them. I've been involved in the business world in one capacity or another since the age of 16. So when I started to see problems with the school, when I started noticing issues in the programming, then I started to lose my faith in the experience. And unlike a lot of the younger students at Rasmussen, I'm not afraid to speak up, voice my concerns, and push back when I'm being told to make due with substandard situations and classes, and I have no problem taking my business elsewhere when it becomes apparent that things are not what they appeared in the beginning to be.
This quarter has been about the worst ever so far in my education at Rasmussen. There have been issues with textbooks, software incompatibility, computer lab issues, online class issues (that if you scroll back you will see I have been having since the very beginning with the online design classes), and one massive issue with an instructor in my Conversational Spanish class. All of this has led me to stop enjoying the educational process.
I've always been a perpetual student. I love to learn new things and get excited at the prospect of challenging myself with new software applications and learning new ways of doing things. I stalked the online classes when I first began, unable to wait to see the new assignments every week and dive into the newness of it all. Over the last two quarters, that shine has definitely come off. Now I must drag myself to the campus, force myself to access the online classroom, and dread opening the books and "dealing" with the work. This feeling, this unhappiness, has caused me a lot of stress this quarter.
I could sit here and laundry list every single issue that Rasmussen has, but I'm not going to. For one thing, it would have no purpose, and for another, I'm tired of thinking about it and dealing with it. What I can say is that it has become apparent to me lately, and over the course of this quarter especially, that I've been rooked. Scammed. Taken for a ride. Pick your metaphor. And this makes me sad, angry, irritated, and tired of the whole damn thing. I hate that I've wasted all this time at a school that does not really care about its students, nor about helping them to succeed in their goals. I'm pissed off at the exorbitant amount of money I have spent to go there when I have now found that one of the premiere digital design programs is only an hour and a half away and $300 less per credit hour. I'm sick of dealing with scheduling issues and nonsense. I'm just over it all.
So....in an attempt to regain that spark, that excitement for learning, I went and met with an admissions representative from the University of Central Florida in Orlando. And it was refreshing! The programming is exciting! And it's a real college, with a real curriculum that includes great elective classes, not just the junk ones that Rasmussen offers. It's a nice campus, friendly people, and a chance for me to have the real college experience I never had.
I will have to go to a local community college for one semester (hopefully this summer) and take another math class and a second Spanish class (oh help!) to get the full requirements for admission to UCF. If all goes well, and I can get into CFCC (or whatever they're calling themselves now) for this summer quarter, and get those two classes done, then I can head to Orlando and UCF in the Fall. I think a lot of my gen ed classes will transfer, but I think I'm going to end up back at square one with the design classes. However, their animation program is much more advanced and I am, once again, excited at the prospect of learning. Already I can feel they have a real commitment to seeing their students succeed, not just in getting people in the door and rooked into whatever lackluster programming they want to provide.
I wish I had done a bit more research about other programs in the area. I did check UF, and Rasmussen's program looked better than that, but I never thought about UCF until a friend mentioned it. Turns out my sister-in-law is an alumni from there and sings its praises. I guess you have to sometimes take the long way to finding the right place to be. Life is weird that way sometimes.
So....I am hoping to start back up with this blog and continue to chronicle the newness and experience of an old bird going back to the books. :) Hopefully these new changes can reignite that spark and snark and make this blog something fun to read again.
As far as the current situation, I am in Week 9 of this current quarter. It feels like it's been going on FOREVER. But, just 2 more weeks to go and then it's done. On Monday I will meet with CFCC to see about summer quarter. Worst case scenario is I can't get into their summer programming because the deadline has passed, but the admissions rep from UCF seemed to indicate that I might be able to make it in under the wire. He also said that as long as I am registered and taking those final two courses, I can apply to UCF and should be good for admittance in the fall. Another great thing about UCF is that the work placement service I use is closer down there and might be able to find me some good work too. So hopefully this is all moving in the right, positive direction.
Thanks for hanging with me y'all and if you would, please keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck! I'm still aiming for nomination for that Animation Short Film Oscar no less then 2 years after graduation. :) Still wanting to intern at Pixar. Those plans are still in motion.
I leave you with this thought - it's never to late to follow your bliss and find that thing that makes you happy and go for it! If you haven't found it yet, what are you waiting for? Life's too short to spend it unhappy - find your spark and shine! :) And also, never let anyone tell you to make due with something less than what you want and deserve. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one has the power to make you feel inferior without your consent." Never, ever, give anyone that. At the end of the day, the best advocate you have for your life is you - DON'T SETTLE! Cheers! :)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
I Have a Future in Hands!!!
Hey all.
So....welcome to Week 6 - mid-term week. For the most part, it's been pretty quiet. We're getting our final project assignments so I'm working on trying to figure out exactly what I'm going to do for all of those. They should make for interesting posting here when they are all done, however. :)
Intro to Literature is poetry still. I'm enjoying it. Of course, as a writer and poet anything to do with literature is right up my alley.
Visual Communication is learning about Typography and Graphic Design. Learned a lot I didn't know about Gutenberg and his invention of the printing press. Our final project for that class has me scratching my head a bit. Still haven't decided about a topic yet - and it's due Sunday. Eek!
Last night's Digital Media Production class was good. Learning more and more about Flash and now getting into ActionScript. Our final projects in that class should be really cool. I'm going to have to hook up the old external drive though and pull some old assignments to feature in it.
Figure Drawing is...not sucking too bad this quarter. Who'd have thunk? And apparently I have a future in drawing hands! Yes people, we found something I CAN draw! See for yourself.
Our class was supposed to have a free model, but they didn't show so the instructor decided we all needed some work on drawing hands since they were giving everyone trouble. First assignment was just drawing four hand gestures. We were drawing our own hands. So....first set:
It was pretty much agreed upon that I do well with fists, which are supposed to be harder to do. The general consensus is that this was my best drawing of all:
Our next set of drawings were the dreaded contour line drawings where you can't pick up your pencil. The first one really sucks, but once I relaxed into it, I think the others came out okay. The little one in the corner was just something I was trying to draw from a picture.
Our final assignment on hands for the evening was to try to draw the best one we could. We can finish it or redo it and it will be graded next week. I may try to do a better one, but this is what I came up with by the end of the class time:
So....there you have it. Apparently I don't do too bad at the hands. :) We're supposed to get a real model in for next week's class so we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, in addition to our final hand we need to draw a full standing-up figure so...gotta work on that. But this class is not the nightmare my last drawing class was. Maybe cuz it's smaller and I'm not in there with all the freaky talented people. I dunno. But it's going pretty well this quarter.
And that being said, time to get back to work! Until later. Cheers!
So....welcome to Week 6 - mid-term week. For the most part, it's been pretty quiet. We're getting our final project assignments so I'm working on trying to figure out exactly what I'm going to do for all of those. They should make for interesting posting here when they are all done, however. :)
Intro to Literature is poetry still. I'm enjoying it. Of course, as a writer and poet anything to do with literature is right up my alley.
Visual Communication is learning about Typography and Graphic Design. Learned a lot I didn't know about Gutenberg and his invention of the printing press. Our final project for that class has me scratching my head a bit. Still haven't decided about a topic yet - and it's due Sunday. Eek!
Last night's Digital Media Production class was good. Learning more and more about Flash and now getting into ActionScript. Our final projects in that class should be really cool. I'm going to have to hook up the old external drive though and pull some old assignments to feature in it.
Figure Drawing is...not sucking too bad this quarter. Who'd have thunk? And apparently I have a future in drawing hands! Yes people, we found something I CAN draw! See for yourself.
Our class was supposed to have a free model, but they didn't show so the instructor decided we all needed some work on drawing hands since they were giving everyone trouble. First assignment was just drawing four hand gestures. We were drawing our own hands. So....first set:
It was pretty much agreed upon that I do well with fists, which are supposed to be harder to do. The general consensus is that this was my best drawing of all:
Our next set of drawings were the dreaded contour line drawings where you can't pick up your pencil. The first one really sucks, but once I relaxed into it, I think the others came out okay. The little one in the corner was just something I was trying to draw from a picture.
Our final assignment on hands for the evening was to try to draw the best one we could. We can finish it or redo it and it will be graded next week. I may try to do a better one, but this is what I came up with by the end of the class time:
So....there you have it. Apparently I don't do too bad at the hands. :) We're supposed to get a real model in for next week's class so we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, in addition to our final hand we need to draw a full standing-up figure so...gotta work on that. But this class is not the nightmare my last drawing class was. Maybe cuz it's smaller and I'm not in there with all the freaky talented people. I dunno. But it's going pretty well this quarter.
And that being said, time to get back to work! Until later. Cheers!
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