M for Mash-Up

Before I get into today’s topics, I want to send a heartfelt thank you to all of you who commented on my last post. I was a little scared when I hit the post button. Your amazingly well thought out, supportive comments warmed my heart. You are my people!!! I’ve found my bloggy tribe! I had visions of a max exodus of readers from my blog. You can imagine how astonished I was not only to not seem to lose readers or followers, but to actually gain some as well! Awesomesauce!!

Okay; now onto week two of Geology. This week was a little bit better than last week. My expectations were obliterated, but in a good way: only one person was late to class and only by ten minutes! That means the classroom phone only rang once. It also means that class wasn’t disrupted, because the professor was just doing roll call. He insists on doing it old school style; calling out names and waiting for a “here” or a “present” or a “yep.” My faith in my classmates is temporarily restored!

Because I didn’t do a very good job managing my time last week, I had to get all of my homework done over the weekend. It was not cool, but I deserved it for not doing a better job of spacing out homework over the week. After going to my niece’s fourth birthday party on Saturday, I took up position on the couch and began reading the three assigned chapters of the textbook. (An amazing feat in and of itself, because I would usually crash and nap on the couch after a children’s birthday party)

I nearly fell asleep several times, and I really started to wonder if it was truly possible for someone to die from boredom. I allowed myself to take a ten-minute break here and there to check email, read a blog, or check up on Facebook. I surprised myself with how good I was about reigning myself back in after ten minutes and pushing my nose right back down to the grindstone. I was proud of me!

Four hours after I started, I had the three chapters read and outlined. That seems like a ridiculous amount of time—I know—but I was being really anal retentive about note taking, because I just wasn’t sure about how to approach this class, and the chapters were surprisingly long (like ridiculously long). I figure it’s better to do too much than to do too little though.

I watched two of the three assigned videos on Sunday and the third one at work during lunch on Monday. I was pleased to discover that the videos did a really good job of summing up the topics from the chapters I’d read in the textbook. The videos weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be in terms of content. The one on volcanoes was actually quite interesting!

The ‘80’s haircuts and clothing of the narrating professors left something to be desired though. Wow! Have we come a looooooong way since the ‘80’s!! Did every guy seriously walk around looking like “Chester the Molester” with the Tom Selleck moustache, out of control sideburns, and short shorts that would rival those worn by many a teen girl today?! I honestly can’t recall; maybe it was just the geology professors that favored that particular style.

I felt pretty prepared walking into class (well, into the building to wait to be led up to class) on Monday. The professor lectured for two hours. I was able to keep up with what he talked about, even referring to appropriate areas in my notes. I took that as a sign that I did a good job on my notes. We took a fifteen-minute break, and then it was time for our first lab.

Since we’d just finished learning about igneous rocks (summarized for you, lovely reader, as rocks formed by lava), the lab was designed to test our knowledge by having us identify twelve rock samples. We needed to come up with the mineral content (based on color) and the texture: glassy, aphanitic (or fine grain), phaneritic (coarse grain), or porphyritic (two textures).

That information decided, we referred to our handy dandy rock charts with mineral content on the x axis and texture on the y axis. Where our mineral content and texture crossed, was the name of the rock. To double check our work, we could refer to pictures in our lab manual that showed dozens of rocks and their texture. I am proud to report that I got 10 out of 12 correct! WOOOOHOOO! This Geology thing might not be so bad after all!

Well, except for the fact that I snagged my fingernail on the pumice sample, which then left me with a ragged fingernail, which just about drove me nuts by the time class was over. I cannot stand having snaggy fingernails!! Oh, and it’s still really, really boring material.

I have two chapters and videos as homework this week. I’m halfway through chapter reading, and I plan to watch the videos on Sunday and Monday. I’m doing much better on homework this week.

I had a moment of panic today when I realized that April 17 is coming fast, which means I need to get my ass in gear on the Public Speaking Competency! I still have no idea what I want to do my persuasive speech on. I’m thinking maybe something about domestic violence or animal rescue—both things that I am quite passionate about. I have to prepare a ten-minute speech, do a “sentence outline” of the speech, and prepare the competency narrative (basically a resume of my public speaking knowledge, abilities, and experience). Hopefully I’ll be able to focus on that in the weeks and weekends ahead! (No, not hopefully; I must make time to focus on it!)

I registered for summer classes yesterday. It was slim pickin’s, and my summer schedule will be a doozy!! I’ll be taking Lifetime Fitness online. Here’s the class description:

Studies physical fitness, nutrition and stress as they relate to health. Through testing and self-assessments, the student's current status is analyzed. After the information on improving skills in each area is presented, the student will develop a plan for implementation. The course will include information on cardiovascular and cancer risk reduction, aging and health, sexually transmitted diseases, and substance abuse control.

The cool thing about this course is that it’s a two-for-one; it covers both the health and physical education requirements. I think it will be an interesting class, and I can most definitely use information/motivation to become more healthy and fit. It’s my first online class, so I’m a little nervous; I don’t know exactly what to expect in terms of time commitment and workload. Class starts June 1 and runs to July 22.

I’ll also be taking Social Inequalities: Race, Class, & Gender. This class is bound to be fascinating, and I’m really looking forward to it. The class name is pretty self-explanatory; I’ll be learning about economic inequality (poverty), ethnic inequality (racism), and gender inequality (sexism). Class runs from 6-10 PM Mondays and Wednesdays, starting June 2 and ending July 12. This will be the first time that I have a class that meets twice a week.

I’ll end the semester with my final required English class: Research Writing in the Disciplines. The reason I decided to take this class this summer is that I eventually have to take creative writing to fill a fine arts requirement, and I didn’t want to be stuck having to take two writing intensive classes during the same semester. I like writing, but there is such a thing as overkill! This class runs from 6-9 PM Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting July 6 and ending August 5.

When I plotted this all out on an actual calendar, I wondered what in the heck I’d gotten myself into! There is some overlap that’s going to cause the week after the 4^th of July, and the week following that, to be pretty hectic. I’ll have my two English classes both weeks, and one Sociology class each week, so I’ll be in classes for three nights both weeks. I’ll also still be involved in Lifetime Fitness online. I think I’ll be able to manage it all, but it’s going to be a crazy few months!!

Photo: Zazzle.com

(I might end up needing to invest in one of these! It's only fair to warn those around me.) 

Good thing I’ll have a few weeks off after the summer semester ends. I think I’m gonna need a vacation!

After summer semester is over, I’ll be halfway done with my associate’s degree, which is super exciting. That means I’ll only be a year away from joining the social work bachelor’s program. I’m so psyched!!