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!
Showing posts with label Spanish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spanish. Show all posts
Sunday, November 28, 2010
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!
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