Getting this out of the way

I'm awful at studying, especially a lot at once. I don't generally think to study a little at a time. The term "I'll do it later" is very predominant in my vocabulary when it comes to studying. Oops.

SO! Procrastination. And I don't think I'll be able to to much more this time around. I'm tired of rote memorization. I always forget it. It doesn't help me. So I will probably fail my second (of many) German test. But after that, things will change.

So yeah. Meme for now. I'm finishing it up today cause I would (for some non-understandable reason) feel guilty if I didn't finish it when I said I would.

Day 23- Something you crave for a lot.

Hm... Peanut butter. I crave peanut butter and... Chinese food. And sleep. HOLY CRAP sleep. I needs it.

Day 24- A letter to your parents.

Ah... This is a little too personal for me. Things aren't always as shiny as I'd like for them to be, especially with one of them in particular. With the other, things just sort of come and go. I prefer it that way. :) I love my parents, even when/if they drive me crazy. They done raised me good.

Day 25- What I would find in your bag.

I guess that depends on what bag you mean. Since the one closest to me is my school bag, I'll use that one XD (sorry for relatively poor image quality. Taking it with my phone was a lot simpler than taking it with my amazing-quality camera, which I don't have on hand XD lol)

1. Notebooks

2. File folder thingy (purple thing)

3. French Text Book (pink one)

4. Pencil Case

5. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (which is due back at the library today... hm...)

6. Planner/organizer (today's pages are kinda empty looking...)

7. Post-it notes (not shown?)

8. Chap Stick

9. Wallet (brown, bottom right) and check book (under pencil case)

10. KEYS (not shown, but the keychain is huge! There's so much on it XD But that's the way I like it lol)

11. Draußen vor der Tür by Wolfgang Borchert

12. Loose change?

13. Water bottle

14. Cell phone (not shown since it took the picture lol)

15. A cord of some kind....

16. Essential Medication (not shown I think?)

17. French/English dictionary (electronic)

Day 26- What you think about your friends.

HAHA. What kind of question is THAT?! My friends are awesome. Nuff said. ♥

Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge.

I don't know. Because I was bored, I suppose. It seemed like a good idea when I started it. Not that it took 30 days or anything... or that I really cared about it at all at the end. I just finished it because I started it. XD Good reasoning, you say? I rather thought so too, thank you.

Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?

Well, they're already up. The one on the main page is from last year, and the last time I posted a "recent" picture, it was taken the week before I posted it. So how am I different?

Well... I suppose I'm more obnoxious now. I'm louder and generally more upfront/blunt with people. My hair is short and instead of redish brown it's now purple, though it looks black in dim light and red in sunlight. And there's a blond streak on the right side (though it used to be green haha).

I speak quite a bit of German now, and I've been to many places I hadn't been at the time.

I'm a double major, which I wasn't before. I have a solid job and way too much to do. When the picture last year was taken, I had dropped out of school due to medical problems and wasn't able to do very much at all with my life. Now that I have a TON to do, I wish I could find a better balance.

I have more friends, some different some the same. I have really good days and really bad ones like always, but I don't try to hide it too much.

I love my room mates - all of them. That's a definite first.

That's about all I've got.

Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned.

I've learned quite a bit over the month. Do you mean about myself? Cause that answer is short. Not much. And certainly not because of this meme. It was more to tell other people about me than to tell ME about me. THAT'S just silly.

Day 30- Who are you?

Who am I? 24601. (My name is Jean Valjean).

New Secondary Education Student Orientation

It's "suggested" that, at the start of your major (whatever that may be), that you go to the meeting held by key faculty members of your specific school. This morning I went to mine.

It was pretty boring at first, talking about exams I don't have to take for a few more years still, but then something happened and a light clicked on. They talked about doing a minor in TELL (Teaching English Language Learners - aka English as a second language). I, of course, already have 2 majors and a minor, but it really got me excited.

I thought about doing TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) which is basically the same thing, but this minor is shorter and the classes are offered not only at night, but also during every semester and both terms. Now, here's the consideration part.

If I were to do this, I would have to sacrifice my German Studies major and take French Teaching with 2 minors (German teaching and TELL). I think it would be a good idea since 1) it won't take me any longer to graduate if I did that and 2) it will certify me in 3 languages, not just 2. And I already speak English fairly well, so there's no need to worry about that too much (note: "fairly well" is meant to be extremely sarcastic).

That's mostly what I've been thinking about today.

I wasn't as productive today as I had hoped to be. I felt AWFUL most of the day. I got everything done that I had to, but I could have done more. The next few days are gonna be pretty stressful, so I hope that doesn't make things worse, you know?

My first exam (French civ.) is Wed-Thurs. My second (Writings of Isaiah) is Thursday and my third (German grammar) is Monday. Woo! They're not letting me take it easy this year are they? Haha. It'll all be fine, I just have to have the energy to study. Naps will probably be necessary.

Haylee and I are meeting up tomorrow to study German and stuff, so that should be... ok. Hopefully. He (our professor) gave us a sample exam, so we know exactly what kind of questions will be asked. The only problem is the amount of material and my inability to learn over 100 German verbs, their meanings and all their tenses in under a week in addition to studying for one equally difficult exam (French) and one possibly detail-oriented exam (Isaiah). I don't know much about the Isaiah exam, but it shouldn't be as hard as the other two. For one thing, it's in English. Well... the test is anyway. Saying the book of Isaiah itself is in English is a rather debatable stand-point.

On another, slightly more random note, I have been motivating myself all day by telling myself life isn't as bad as my pessimistic side would have me believe. This is mostly referring to my IBS, by the way. It is extremely painful at times and that is rather distracting.

Last night I was moping about it because it wasn't getting better even when I upped my dosage of meds (which, by the way, I am very allowed to do. Encouraged to, even, when problems arise). I thought to myself "I'm doing everything I can and nothing helps. This is totally not fair." In response, I heard David Bowie (as he played the part of King Jareth of the Goblins in "Labyrinth" back in the 80s). This was his answer to the female lead (ironically also named Sarah) when she said the same thing.

Sarah: "It's not fair!"

Jareth: "You say that so often. I wonder what your basis for comparison is."

[In case you're wondering, it sounds like this: click here!]

I have to admit I laughed, because Jareth has a point. So I kept telling myself that all day and if the sentiment wasn't enough to put a smile on my face, the glittery Goblin King was. Oh David Bowie...

Anyway it's getting rather late now (in srs bzns college kids terms) and I haven't felt well, as stated, so I'm going to get some sleep and hope things are better tomorrow.

Life is so crazy, but I love every minute of it. =D Yay optimism! (Hopefully this will not soon be replaced by endless pessimism like is sometimes is in my life haha. We'll just have to wait and see.)