My so-called life
Wow it has been one helluva crazy semester. Not sure if anyone still reads this but just in case here's an update to let you know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. (Well not yet anyway)There's way too much to say so I'ma summarize it.
First off there's school. Classes this semester totally kicked my ass but in a good way, I think? Hopefully this will be the last time I take five course in a semester, way too much work. There was film class (cross-listed with english so it counts towards my major woo-hoo!) with my favorite professor Peter Bauland. If you have a change to take a class with him, do it. He's really old-school, like one-room-schoolhouse kinda old-school and he'll make you work for your grade but it's totally worth it. Then there's Shakespeare with Ralph Williams (yet another professor you must meet before graduating from U of M). At first I thought my GSI for the discussion section was an idiot but it turns out she just didn't like my thesis. The jury's still out since I haven't yet received my grade on the final paper but I'm thinking that she might turn out alright in the end. Moving on to Spanish with the delightful Alvaro Leiva, it only took me the first half of the class to understand what he was talking about and no, it wasn't because of difficulty with the language. For my one fun class I took a classical civilizations course on Pompeii with Ayn, my former roommate. Unfortunately she got pneumonia and missed over a month and we got stuck writing a 10 page research paper. So kids, the lesson from this one is, if you've never had a course in the subject and it's at the 400 level, even if it says there's no pre-reqs DON'T TAKE IT! One final course to avoid like the plague is any class taught by Professor Lawrence Greene. This man isn't quite the devil incarnate but he certainly put the fear of hell into me this semester. He runs his lectures like a boot-camp drill sargent, barking questions/commands while towering over terrified students. It also didn't help that I have absolutely zero background in political sciences or our nation's judicial system, the topic of the class. I studied my ass off, did all the readings ahead of time and I still might end up with a B overall. But whacha gonna do?
Then there's work. Whoa. Talk about insane. Two jobs and over twenty hours a week between both of them does not make for a happy Lara. I got a job working in the reading room for the Law School over the summer and it's a pretty sweet gig I gotta say. I'm actually at work right now as I'm typing this. Normally I use the time to study but my brain needs a break. I'm still working in the cafeteria of East Quad, not quite so convenient now that I no longer live there. But it's all good. I just got promoted to student shift managers (they call them captains) which means more pay :) and more responsibilities :( At least now it doesn't say general laborer in a dorm cafeteria on my resume anymore.
M-flicks has been both wonderful and completely infuriating. It was a crash course in management 101, learning to delegate was difficult but I've learned to rely on my people and let the little things slide. (Dave, my co-president and personal masseuse, would disagree but I have improved from the beginning of September.) We've got the a great group of people and so many new members. Attendance it up at our regular screenings, we now average about 50 people and aside from We Are Marshall, all of our sneak previews have been big hits. I'm looking forward to the holiday party next Wednesday, our last meeting of the semester, just kicking back and celebrating an excellent semester of shows.
In other news... well there really isn't much other news. Alex and I are getting along great and loving our apartment. He's an awesome roommate and a wonderful chef, don't let him tell you otherwise. We've hosted a few parties and hope to do more next semester if our schedules allow. Looking ahead even further, I'm seriously reconsidering law school. I'm slowly realizing that working really hard in college is great if you have some grand and glorious dream of what you want to do and be in life. But law school for me is just something to do after graduation and I'm not really sure if that will really make me happy. I'm tired of living for my future and wasting my present. It comes down to this, I'm not waiting for my life to start anymore. Sharon wants me to go teach English with her in Japan. I'd rather go to a country where I can make use of my minor, maybe Spain or Argentina. I've never really considered working and traveling in another country and there's so many other possibilities that I had always ruled out in my mind. Anyway I've got a lot of serious thinking to do over break.
Looking it over, this entry seems like one of those letters you get this time of year stuffed inside some sappy Christmas card with a picture of a dog with antlers on it's head. Guess this way saves postage. So here's to a new beginning and a new year, let's hope it's a good one.
First off there's school. Classes this semester totally kicked my ass but in a good way, I think? Hopefully this will be the last time I take five course in a semester, way too much work. There was film class (cross-listed with english so it counts towards my major woo-hoo!) with my favorite professor Peter Bauland. If you have a change to take a class with him, do it. He's really old-school, like one-room-schoolhouse kinda old-school and he'll make you work for your grade but it's totally worth it. Then there's Shakespeare with Ralph Williams (yet another professor you must meet before graduating from U of M). At first I thought my GSI for the discussion section was an idiot but it turns out she just didn't like my thesis. The jury's still out since I haven't yet received my grade on the final paper but I'm thinking that she might turn out alright in the end. Moving on to Spanish with the delightful Alvaro Leiva, it only took me the first half of the class to understand what he was talking about and no, it wasn't because of difficulty with the language. For my one fun class I took a classical civilizations course on Pompeii with Ayn, my former roommate. Unfortunately she got pneumonia and missed over a month and we got stuck writing a 10 page research paper. So kids, the lesson from this one is, if you've never had a course in the subject and it's at the 400 level, even if it says there's no pre-reqs DON'T TAKE IT! One final course to avoid like the plague is any class taught by Professor Lawrence Greene. This man isn't quite the devil incarnate but he certainly put the fear of hell into me this semester. He runs his lectures like a boot-camp drill sargent, barking questions/commands while towering over terrified students. It also didn't help that I have absolutely zero background in political sciences or our nation's judicial system, the topic of the class. I studied my ass off, did all the readings ahead of time and I still might end up with a B overall. But whacha gonna do?
Then there's work. Whoa. Talk about insane. Two jobs and over twenty hours a week between both of them does not make for a happy Lara. I got a job working in the reading room for the Law School over the summer and it's a pretty sweet gig I gotta say. I'm actually at work right now as I'm typing this. Normally I use the time to study but my brain needs a break. I'm still working in the cafeteria of East Quad, not quite so convenient now that I no longer live there. But it's all good. I just got promoted to student shift managers (they call them captains) which means more pay :) and more responsibilities :( At least now it doesn't say general laborer in a dorm cafeteria on my resume anymore.
M-flicks has been both wonderful and completely infuriating. It was a crash course in management 101, learning to delegate was difficult but I've learned to rely on my people and let the little things slide. (Dave, my co-president and personal masseuse, would disagree but I have improved from the beginning of September.) We've got the a great group of people and so many new members. Attendance it up at our regular screenings, we now average about 50 people and aside from We Are Marshall, all of our sneak previews have been big hits. I'm looking forward to the holiday party next Wednesday, our last meeting of the semester, just kicking back and celebrating an excellent semester of shows.
In other news... well there really isn't much other news. Alex and I are getting along great and loving our apartment. He's an awesome roommate and a wonderful chef, don't let him tell you otherwise. We've hosted a few parties and hope to do more next semester if our schedules allow. Looking ahead even further, I'm seriously reconsidering law school. I'm slowly realizing that working really hard in college is great if you have some grand and glorious dream of what you want to do and be in life. But law school for me is just something to do after graduation and I'm not really sure if that will really make me happy. I'm tired of living for my future and wasting my present. It comes down to this, I'm not waiting for my life to start anymore. Sharon wants me to go teach English with her in Japan. I'd rather go to a country where I can make use of my minor, maybe Spain or Argentina. I've never really considered working and traveling in another country and there's so many other possibilities that I had always ruled out in my mind. Anyway I've got a lot of serious thinking to do over break.
Looking it over, this entry seems like one of those letters you get this time of year stuffed inside some sappy Christmas card with a picture of a dog with antlers on it's head. Guess this way saves postage. So here's to a new beginning and a new year, let's hope it's a good one.