Catch-all entry
Ahhhh. Due to a combination of post-comps exhaustion and losing an hour to DST (grrrr, why we can't just stay on DST all year long is beyond me...), I woke up a little before noon. Then I had leftovers from last night's excursion to Fiesta Mexicana for lunch. Last night at Wal-Mart, I got a big ol' bar of DairyMilk while I will probably break into today while I bumble about on the Internet. Eventually, I suppose, I should get some more work done on my TVA paper, but at the moment, life is good.
So, comps.
I'm a big fan of full disclosure about this test, since I knew very little going into it about what it was going to be like. Thanks ever so, English department. I really could've used some example questions for the IDs, at the very least.
Some of the IDs/short answer questions (there are 20, worth one point each) are blindingly obvious. "What city does the action in Mrs. Dalloway take place?" was probably the easiest. They had two on "The Turn of the Screw" where the answer was Miss Jessel (well, one was just her, the other was both her and Peter Quint). And then they had crazy-ass ones like, "how much does Mr. Biswas borrow to pay for his house." Which...AUGH. If anyone gets that right, I will have a fit. 'Cause it's not ever explicitly mentioned in the text. The sum total of the house is mentioned, and the fact that Biswas has somewhere around $1200, but never the amount he borrowed. I was not pleased at needing to do math over a book I'd read a year ago. I couldn't remember how much he'd saved up, so I just put down how much the house cost, which I'd only known because someone mentioned it at our study session on Friday night. Bah. I know I got at least three of the IDs wrong, and probably a couple more not quite right. It was about half obvious questions, half stupidly nitpicky. I suppose those are the distinction-breakers.
The passage IDs were better. I at least recognized all of them, which was nice, although I misattributed the one from A Midsummer Night's Dream. But whatever, you can get up to eight points for each of the five, so since I had the title, author, and year correct, plus most of the context and significance, I think it'll be fine. They wanted "approximately 200 words" for each of them, which didn't happen for me or anyone else that I talked to. Most of us were around 100-150 for each, which is really all you can say about what they give you. *shrug*
The "brief essay" (mine was three-ish pages) was kind of hellish. The three options were:
- Discuss the use of epic form in Paradise Lost and the satirization of it in The Rape of the Lock including specific examples (Meh? Specific examples when you can't refer to the books? Epic form, which I've never studied AT ALL?)
- Discuss the differences in narrative perspective in Persuasion and Mrs. Dalloway (Say WHAT?)
- Pick any two works on the list and discuss how the natural world reflects the inner state of a major character (Buh?)
I ended up doing the last one and seriously twisting the interpretation of "the natural world." I said something along the lines of the monsters in Beowulf being thrown up to reveal Beowulf's inner heroism and, in the case of the dragon, his kinglyness. Then I was all "pathetic fallacy and Victorian sexual repression, wheee!" for Turn of the Screw, which kind of hinges on ghosts being "natural" rather than "supernatural," but whatever. Terrible essay. Hopefully I got at least half-credit on it. *worries* Either they'll think it's really creative, or think I can't understand a simple essay prompt. Meep.
The afternoon session went much better. They give you the poem you're to write on (you pick one of three, by three separate poets) before the two-hour lunch break, and let you prepare beforehand, although you can't bring any notes in with you. The Eavan Boland poem was "Quarantine," which I hadn't expected (I was dead certain it was going to be "Mise Eire"), but that was okay, because Norton Poets Online totally has an interview with her about the poet up which I freakin' memorized before going back into the exam room. And I really liked the essay I ended up writing. It was only three and a half pages, but covered all kinds of stuff. I referenced at least four other poems by her, and had what I consider a really interesting idea about the title as it relates to her sort of mini-crusade against love poetry. And I got to use the word "plumbed," as in "It is in actions such as these that the real depths of love are plumbed." I thought that was pretty cool, anyway.
And I really hope I didn't just jinx the hell out of myself by writing that preceding paragraph. *crosses fingers*
*
I never posted on this week's Doctor Who, since that night I was kind of busy with other things. It's one of the three I hadn't seen before (the others being WWIII and The Long Game), and well... Whoa. Low point of the season, man. Hopefully of the entire series. Farting aliens and pigs in space (no, really) and...augh. Not to mention we have to endure more Mickey. The pain, precious, the pain.
There were some good points, though:
- Blue Peter! Ahahaha! (I remember watching that a few times in Exeter. It's like a bunch of Mousketeers, only grown up. Or possibly a Scout troop on TV.) The whole thing with the Doctor and the toddler was pretty funny.
- I heart Harriet Jones. She may well be my most favorite recurring character. She's so plucky and sweet in this episode, particularly with giving the secretary (or whatever he was) coffee. Penelope Wilton rocks.
- I admit, I laughed pretty hard when Micky bounced off the wall after running for the TARDIS. Mostly because I really don't like Mickey.
- The Slitheen ship crashing into Big Ben was pretty awesome. Even if Skiffy did cut out Rose's "Now that's just not fair!" indignance after seeing it. (They leave in most fo the farting, but they cut that? Skiffy's editors seriously suck.) Yay for having a budget!
- Most things with Jackie and Rose were done well, and if they'd stuck more with that subplot than the farting aliens, the episode would have been much better. I actually liked Margaret's return in "Boom Town," so it's not that the Slitheen are all bad. Just excessively gaseous.
*
Also, NEW S2 TRAILER SQUEE, OMG.
- Extra time on the kissage! By, like, a tenth of a second! Dude, I take what I can get. *is a happy shipper, even though I know the twist involved*
- So the Doctor and Rose are falling down an elevator shaft 9rather, sliding down a pole in an elevator shaft). In a seriously compromising position. I'll just be over here cracking up...
- That werewolf is pretty awesome.
- Floating ninjas? Meh? I have to say, that clip gave me serious flashbacks to the Skiffy self-promo where the guy caught in traffic snaps his fingers and all the cars are hanging in the air. Gah.
- What's with the whole acid trippy way of the Doctor getting up from the floor? Uh...meh? Who thought that up, then?
- Aw, Rose touches his chest before they run out of the TARDIS! (Shut up. They're too cute for me to contain my squee.)
- David Tennant is still very, very pretty.
So, comps.
I'm a big fan of full disclosure about this test, since I knew very little going into it about what it was going to be like. Thanks ever so, English department. I really could've used some example questions for the IDs, at the very least.
Some of the IDs/short answer questions (there are 20, worth one point each) are blindingly obvious. "What city does the action in Mrs. Dalloway take place?" was probably the easiest. They had two on "The Turn of the Screw" where the answer was Miss Jessel (well, one was just her, the other was both her and Peter Quint). And then they had crazy-ass ones like, "how much does Mr. Biswas borrow to pay for his house." Which...AUGH. If anyone gets that right, I will have a fit. 'Cause it's not ever explicitly mentioned in the text. The sum total of the house is mentioned, and the fact that Biswas has somewhere around $1200, but never the amount he borrowed. I was not pleased at needing to do math over a book I'd read a year ago. I couldn't remember how much he'd saved up, so I just put down how much the house cost, which I'd only known because someone mentioned it at our study session on Friday night. Bah. I know I got at least three of the IDs wrong, and probably a couple more not quite right. It was about half obvious questions, half stupidly nitpicky. I suppose those are the distinction-breakers.
The passage IDs were better. I at least recognized all of them, which was nice, although I misattributed the one from A Midsummer Night's Dream. But whatever, you can get up to eight points for each of the five, so since I had the title, author, and year correct, plus most of the context and significance, I think it'll be fine. They wanted "approximately 200 words" for each of them, which didn't happen for me or anyone else that I talked to. Most of us were around 100-150 for each, which is really all you can say about what they give you. *shrug*
The "brief essay" (mine was three-ish pages) was kind of hellish. The three options were:
- Discuss the use of epic form in Paradise Lost and the satirization of it in The Rape of the Lock including specific examples (Meh? Specific examples when you can't refer to the books? Epic form, which I've never studied AT ALL?)
- Discuss the differences in narrative perspective in Persuasion and Mrs. Dalloway (Say WHAT?)
- Pick any two works on the list and discuss how the natural world reflects the inner state of a major character (Buh?)
I ended up doing the last one and seriously twisting the interpretation of "the natural world." I said something along the lines of the monsters in Beowulf being thrown up to reveal Beowulf's inner heroism and, in the case of the dragon, his kinglyness. Then I was all "pathetic fallacy and Victorian sexual repression, wheee!" for Turn of the Screw, which kind of hinges on ghosts being "natural" rather than "supernatural," but whatever. Terrible essay. Hopefully I got at least half-credit on it. *worries* Either they'll think it's really creative, or think I can't understand a simple essay prompt. Meep.
The afternoon session went much better. They give you the poem you're to write on (you pick one of three, by three separate poets) before the two-hour lunch break, and let you prepare beforehand, although you can't bring any notes in with you. The Eavan Boland poem was "Quarantine," which I hadn't expected (I was dead certain it was going to be "Mise Eire"), but that was okay, because Norton Poets Online totally has an interview with her about the poet up which I freakin' memorized before going back into the exam room. And I really liked the essay I ended up writing. It was only three and a half pages, but covered all kinds of stuff. I referenced at least four other poems by her, and had what I consider a really interesting idea about the title as it relates to her sort of mini-crusade against love poetry. And I got to use the word "plumbed," as in "It is in actions such as these that the real depths of love are plumbed." I thought that was pretty cool, anyway.
And I really hope I didn't just jinx the hell out of myself by writing that preceding paragraph. *crosses fingers*
*
I never posted on this week's Doctor Who, since that night I was kind of busy with other things. It's one of the three I hadn't seen before (the others being WWIII and The Long Game), and well... Whoa. Low point of the season, man. Hopefully of the entire series. Farting aliens and pigs in space (no, really) and...augh. Not to mention we have to endure more Mickey. The pain, precious, the pain.
There were some good points, though:
- Blue Peter! Ahahaha! (I remember watching that a few times in Exeter. It's like a bunch of Mousketeers, only grown up. Or possibly a Scout troop on TV.) The whole thing with the Doctor and the toddler was pretty funny.
- I heart Harriet Jones. She may well be my most favorite recurring character. She's so plucky and sweet in this episode, particularly with giving the secretary (or whatever he was) coffee. Penelope Wilton rocks.
- I admit, I laughed pretty hard when Micky bounced off the wall after running for the TARDIS. Mostly because I really don't like Mickey.
- The Slitheen ship crashing into Big Ben was pretty awesome. Even if Skiffy did cut out Rose's "Now that's just not fair!" indignance after seeing it. (They leave in most fo the farting, but they cut that? Skiffy's editors seriously suck.) Yay for having a budget!
- Most things with Jackie and Rose were done well, and if they'd stuck more with that subplot than the farting aliens, the episode would have been much better. I actually liked Margaret's return in "Boom Town," so it's not that the Slitheen are all bad. Just excessively gaseous.
*
Also, NEW S2 TRAILER SQUEE, OMG.
- Extra time on the kissage! By, like, a tenth of a second! Dude, I take what I can get. *is a happy shipper, even though I know the twist involved*
- So the Doctor and Rose are falling down an elevator shaft 9rather, sliding down a pole in an elevator shaft). In a seriously compromising position. I'll just be over here cracking up...
- That werewolf is pretty awesome.
- Floating ninjas? Meh? I have to say, that clip gave me serious flashbacks to the Skiffy self-promo where the guy caught in traffic snaps his fingers and all the cars are hanging in the air. Gah.
- What's with the whole acid trippy way of the Doctor getting up from the floor? Uh...meh? Who thought that up, then?
- Aw, Rose touches his chest before they run out of the TARDIS! (Shut up. They're too cute for me to contain my squee.)
- David Tennant is still very, very pretty.