bits & pieces redux
Long time no post, eh? Sorry about that. It's been hectic lately, and I also haven't felt as though I've had anything to post about that would be all that interesting. I've pretty much been buried in everything to do with my classes, which are going okay, but just stressful because there's a lot of work.
Things are moving along with that 15-20 page research paper for my Comp class. The first draft is due on Tuesday, and she wants us to have about 10 pages. I'm not fond of the process of a series of drafts because that kind of drawn-out process just doesn't really fit with the way I tend to write. I don't like the process to be broken up like that, with significant chunks of time in between various drafts, and the notion that only the final draft is the actual finished product. That doesn't sit well with me largely because of the way that I'm such a perfectionist - it allows entirely too much time for my mind to nitpick and second guess (and then third, fourth, fifth, and sixth guess) everything I've written. It's just too easy for that to turn into a situation where I end up whittling away at my writing out of obsessive compulsion, instead of merely reviewing and editing carefully and rationally. I prefer to do the bulk of my writing (or all of it) in one fell swoop, so to speak. And in my case, that usually means that I won't sit down and write a paper until the day before it's due. It works in my favor because the knowledge that it's due the next day actually serves as a really effective shield against the more irrational side of my perfectionism - I just get into a zone and punch the whole thing out, revising and editing as I go.
Luckily, I spoke with my professor about this, and she completely understands how the staggered drafts would seem more daunting for me, and said that if after this first one, I really feel like it'd be better to do things more my way, that she'd be alright with that. I love professors like that, who actually understand and respect that different people have different writing styles and processes, and that they can still produce quality work that fulfills what the assignment is asking for, even if the way they go about doing it deviates some from how the professor expects most people to do it.
She's just a great professor, period, in my opinion. Unfortunately, she's gotten really frustrated with the majority of the students in our class, and I can't blame her, because I'm as frustrated with them as she is. It's like 98% of them think they're too good for everything we do in that class. We have had assigned readings due every other week that she wants us to discuss in class, and I'm typically one of maybe 3 people who actually makes an effort to really read the articles and be prepared to discuss them. It's amazing how utterly apathetic and ignorant these kids are. They're in college and are apparently surprised that they're being asked to read articles for discussion; they seem to find no value in the notion of encouraging and building critical thinking skills. And it shows, because when they do read the articles, so few of them seem to grasp what they've read beyond the simplest surface observations. It's honestly appalling.
++++
Okay, enough about that. I have a random assortment of pictures I thought I'd share, that I've collected over the last few weeks or so.
Me right now, taken with the iSight camera in my Macbook. I'm sitting in a comfy chair at Third World Cafe, the little independant cafe here in Hyde Park. :) I've taken to coming here to study because I get so little natural light in my apartment. Plus it means I can enjoy a nice chai tea latte.
A couple weeks ago, I took this with my cell phone camera. They opened a new Starbucks on Michigan Avenue, right next to two of the main buildings for Columbia. Needless to say, I was quite happy with that. One of the days I was in there, though, it was busy enough that they were taking names. Apparently this is what the person who took my name heard when I said it? LMAO I'm used to my name being misspelled, but this was a real first. It's like when Isaac posted that one FUTY on H.net when he had a similar experience, and he posted a picture he took of his own Starbucks cup with his name spelled 'Isiac', because he was so amused by it, LOL.
LOLOL, this is frequently what Chester looks like when he settles in next to me on the couch at home. Taken with the iSight camera.
Even better is how he can sprawl himself out in my lap, this being one example. ;D He's like, "...wut? I'z jus chillin'."
Yeah, he's still sleeping in boxes. This particular one has become the favored box for Chester, and he curls up in it now multiple times every day.
Nutmeg thought it was a good idea, too, and has claimed this particular box as her own. It's so amusing how often both of them will sleep so contentedly in their respective boxes, like nothing else in the world could possibly equal that of cardboard, for what they prefer to sleep on/in. My cats are so weird, LOL.
My parents got HBO recently because they wanted to be able to watch that new John Adams series that's going on now, with Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney playing John and Abigail Adams. And I have to say, the series has been just amazing, in my opinion. Paul and Laura are great in their roles, and Tom Wilkinson is the best damn Benjamin Franklin I've ever seen. David Morse looks so much like Washington that it's insane, and Stephen Dillane has been wonderful as Thomas Jefferson. They've done a fantastic job showing the beginnings of the United States and people who were part of all of it in a very realistic, unglorified way. The Founding Fathers are so often spoken of in ways that treat them like faultless deities by a lot of people anymore, but this does a great job of showing how human and faulted they really were.
And I just have to geek out and say that I am ridiculously in love with the theme music. asdjkhalskdhad LOVE
Okay, I should wrap this up and get back to working more on things for my paper. I hope you're all well! :)
Things are moving along with that 15-20 page research paper for my Comp class. The first draft is due on Tuesday, and she wants us to have about 10 pages. I'm not fond of the process of a series of drafts because that kind of drawn-out process just doesn't really fit with the way I tend to write. I don't like the process to be broken up like that, with significant chunks of time in between various drafts, and the notion that only the final draft is the actual finished product. That doesn't sit well with me largely because of the way that I'm such a perfectionist - it allows entirely too much time for my mind to nitpick and second guess (and then third, fourth, fifth, and sixth guess) everything I've written. It's just too easy for that to turn into a situation where I end up whittling away at my writing out of obsessive compulsion, instead of merely reviewing and editing carefully and rationally. I prefer to do the bulk of my writing (or all of it) in one fell swoop, so to speak. And in my case, that usually means that I won't sit down and write a paper until the day before it's due. It works in my favor because the knowledge that it's due the next day actually serves as a really effective shield against the more irrational side of my perfectionism - I just get into a zone and punch the whole thing out, revising and editing as I go.
Luckily, I spoke with my professor about this, and she completely understands how the staggered drafts would seem more daunting for me, and said that if after this first one, I really feel like it'd be better to do things more my way, that she'd be alright with that. I love professors like that, who actually understand and respect that different people have different writing styles and processes, and that they can still produce quality work that fulfills what the assignment is asking for, even if the way they go about doing it deviates some from how the professor expects most people to do it.
She's just a great professor, period, in my opinion. Unfortunately, she's gotten really frustrated with the majority of the students in our class, and I can't blame her, because I'm as frustrated with them as she is. It's like 98% of them think they're too good for everything we do in that class. We have had assigned readings due every other week that she wants us to discuss in class, and I'm typically one of maybe 3 people who actually makes an effort to really read the articles and be prepared to discuss them. It's amazing how utterly apathetic and ignorant these kids are. They're in college and are apparently surprised that they're being asked to read articles for discussion; they seem to find no value in the notion of encouraging and building critical thinking skills. And it shows, because when they do read the articles, so few of them seem to grasp what they've read beyond the simplest surface observations. It's honestly appalling.
++++
Okay, enough about that. I have a random assortment of pictures I thought I'd share, that I've collected over the last few weeks or so.
Me right now, taken with the iSight camera in my Macbook. I'm sitting in a comfy chair at Third World Cafe, the little independant cafe here in Hyde Park. :) I've taken to coming here to study because I get so little natural light in my apartment. Plus it means I can enjoy a nice chai tea latte.
A couple weeks ago, I took this with my cell phone camera. They opened a new Starbucks on Michigan Avenue, right next to two of the main buildings for Columbia. Needless to say, I was quite happy with that. One of the days I was in there, though, it was busy enough that they were taking names. Apparently this is what the person who took my name heard when I said it? LMAO I'm used to my name being misspelled, but this was a real first. It's like when Isaac posted that one FUTY on H.net when he had a similar experience, and he posted a picture he took of his own Starbucks cup with his name spelled 'Isiac', because he was so amused by it, LOL.
LOLOL, this is frequently what Chester looks like when he settles in next to me on the couch at home. Taken with the iSight camera.
Even better is how he can sprawl himself out in my lap, this being one example. ;D He's like, "...wut? I'z jus chillin'."
Yeah, he's still sleeping in boxes. This particular one has become the favored box for Chester, and he curls up in it now multiple times every day.
Nutmeg thought it was a good idea, too, and has claimed this particular box as her own. It's so amusing how often both of them will sleep so contentedly in their respective boxes, like nothing else in the world could possibly equal that of cardboard, for what they prefer to sleep on/in. My cats are so weird, LOL.
My parents got HBO recently because they wanted to be able to watch that new John Adams series that's going on now, with Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney playing John and Abigail Adams. And I have to say, the series has been just amazing, in my opinion. Paul and Laura are great in their roles, and Tom Wilkinson is the best damn Benjamin Franklin I've ever seen. David Morse looks so much like Washington that it's insane, and Stephen Dillane has been wonderful as Thomas Jefferson. They've done a fantastic job showing the beginnings of the United States and people who were part of all of it in a very realistic, unglorified way. The Founding Fathers are so often spoken of in ways that treat them like faultless deities by a lot of people anymore, but this does a great job of showing how human and faulted they really were.
And I just have to geek out and say that I am ridiculously in love with the theme music. asdjkhalskdhad LOVE
Okay, I should wrap this up and get back to working more on things for my paper. I hope you're all well! :)