Averygoodun's Personal File

Email K
Homework:
- discussion group
- watch speeches; start journal
- read story; reader response
- remember what I'm forgetting...

So, some of you might know that I'm taking a public speaking class to, theoretically, overcome some of my social fears. (Not going very well. The fear has been ramping up.) We have to not only give six different types of speeches, but also critique each classmate's speech (one nice thing, one thing that could be improved).

This week's speeches have been of the persuasive sort, with most of the same old topics that everyone covers. I generally am pretty generous with my praise and pretty gentle with my critiques where speeches are concerned because, yeah, golden rule and such. They're mostly doing the best they can.

But there was an exception today.

This girl, I'll call her "Jane," had her entire argument based on "tradition." We Americans have been saying the pledge of allegiance for over two hundred years one hundred years (she had bad math, too! AAACK!), and been using the words "under God" for over 60, so we should continue to do so, no matter the (paltry [my take]) reasoning for inserting the words in the first place, nor how offensive a small minority of people find the phrase.

That was her entire argument.

When I asked, in the question period, what the point of saying the pledge of allegiance was, she kind of hemmed and hawed about supporting our troops and honoring our country.

I was not impressed.

(I also pointed out that Athiests are not the only people who might object to saying the pledge or the "Under God" bit, as the pledge is, in fact, idolizing the flag, which, I believe, is a big no-no in Judeo-Christian belief system, isn't it?)

Now, I know I am in the minority of Americans who find the very concept of a pledge of allegiance (especially to a frickin' flag) offensive, but I can respect a good argument. My argument against saying the pledge is that its purpose is to indoctrinate children into a false patriotism that can then be used to manipulate them into supporting all sorts of evils. It is a tool of totalitarianism, not democracy, because it encourages behavior without thought. And making young kids repeat words (oaths!) that they don't understand the meaning of (as evidenced by this young woman's "argument") is really quite low.

So in my critique I told her that "tradition" is a weak argument as it generally shows a lack of critical thought. I imagine she will not be pleased. Oh well. That's what college is for.

Harrumph.

Anyway. That's my daily rant. I'll probably have something else to rant about by the end of the day, but I just needed to get that out of my system.

Okay, I exaggerate. But, still. This was supposed to be my week of sleeping in and goofing off and all that jazz. And yet so far:

Monday: got up early to get kidlet off to school; had to walk him there (and DAMN it was cold!!!) because he missed the bus. Went out food shopping, then coffee with friends, came home to find message on machine saying I had to come pick up child because he'd hit another child. Yay. Sitting in school's front office as an adult is about as much fun as it is as a child.

Tuesday: Actually got child off in time to get the bus, but had to pick him up at half past noon because of a 1:00 doctor's appointment. Appt. led to bloodwork (they took a few tablespoons, the poor boy. I think it was ten vials?), which led to unhappy boy getting comfort food from irresponsible mom. I did at least get a (ninja) nap in the afternoon, but, well...

Today: Early release day. Kidlet will be home just past one. Then we'll be going over to manic house so kidlet can play and I can get my scholarship application responses (the real ones) reviewed.

Tomorrow: Get kidlet up yet again. At some point husband will show up, or that's the plan, anyway. At some point I will have to drag kidlet and maybe husband to see Frozen. Literal dragging will probably happen in the case of kidlet.

Friday: who knows. Probably get kidlet up again, though husband might be healthy enough to do so. We'll see.

Saturday: housework and homework.

Sunday: cooking and homework and school development meeting.

Monday: Class.


So, yeah. Not happy about how this week has been going and the projected course for the rest of it. Ah well. I just wish I could have got a bit more alone time this week. Again, ah well. I'll kick the boys out on the weekend, as usual.

In good news, however, Page DID get in to the new charter school! Yay! While I am thrilled about this on several levels, what got me dancing this morning was the fact that this new school will start at 9, so the alarm clock here will be set for an hour later, which will make a world of difference to me! Yayayayayayay!

Excel and/or businessy-talented people, would you help me, please?

I have a table that I need to sort in order to "[d]isplay subtotals for sales by year, month, and territory." There's also a product category not mentioned, but when omitted makes for a very messy table.

How would you interpret that directive (with the assumption that it needs to remain one table)? There are two years, three territories, and five product categories. Would you make separate columns for the years (and maybe territories), then sort from there?

I know how to sort and subtotal; it's just I'm having a very difficult time visualizing what the final table should look like, and so having a difficult time figuring out what levels each section should go on.

I think I am beginning to wake up. Seeing as I've been out of bed for the last five hours, I'm viewing this with a fair share of surprise. I had lost hope for the day.

Of course, this means that I need to start in on my homework now rather than later, but, well, needs must. It's either that or vacuum out the computer, and really, cleaning doesn't need wakefulness. Well, not really, anyway. Not that I now know not to remove the CPU. ahem.

( Television: BSG )

( Obligatory weather update )

( A possible new school for Page )

( Computer woes )

Heh. Totting everything computer-related that I want/need in the next year or two, I'm thinking I'd better go do my homework so I can get a job closer to a year from now rather than 18 months. Modern life is expensive.

Hope you all are well, as are your families.

More or less in order:
( Read more... )

So glad to be done with school for the semester. So. Glad.

And I will be so glad when, after I do my errands today, I will be done with this household's Christmas shopping and errands. So, so glad.

And, honestly, I am also glad that it is cold out. It makes it so much easier to want to get into the Christmas spirit, and, well, since I want Christmas-time goodies, I'd better get into the Christmas spirit toot sweet!

The only thing I'm not satisfied with in my life right now is that my words haven't returned yet. I assume they will, but, well, I have notes to send, and I'd like that to be a less than painful exercise. :-/

But, on the whole, life is good. I'll post photos at some point, but not today. Today's to do list is already full enough.

Cheers!

I went and registered for the spring semester. Two classes. Three days. Six credits. Even though I lack the motivation (or energy, or both) to do the reading for Wednesday's class, or take photos for tomorrow's class...

*blows raspberry at world*

Hopefully this day off will result in energy to use tomorrow.

Went to the college transfer fair, and, well... Hmm. It's possible I will not go for a bachelor's and master's after all. I haven't given up on the idea, but I will need to talk to the admissions and financial aid offices of the universities I'm considering to see if any of them offer scholarships, prorated, of course, to this particular part-time student. Because, well, I can not afford to go to any of those schools without scholarship aid. Not with only 20 post-grad working years projected. Uh-uh. And I am physically unable to attend full-time, even if I wanted to.

Another disappointment, though one with a good side, is that should I manage to find a school that will provide scholarship funds to part-time students, I would be counted as "non-matriculated" - meaning no financial aid at all would be offered, including by the government - if I started in the spring semester. So I don't have to rush the next year quite so much. Meaning, I can take that year and a half.

So... yeah. Perhaps being an acupuncturist-to-D.O. isn't for me after all. Perhaps. As I said, I haven't given up yet. I have a pretty good transcript, so I might be able to wrangle some sort of merit money yet. And, if not, well, that's more time to devote to art, writing and Page. And finding an appropriate part-time job to pay for the health insurance bills.

*shrugs*

Of course, this makes it very tempting to just quit school altogether, especially given how tired I've been lately. But, I am not going to. I WILL get my associates. I WILL. If only because I'll get a better part-time job because of it. *nods*

Geoff and I are going to go on a date! Not today, 'cause I'm all tired from cleaning (not to mention there's a metric tonne of cooking to do), but on Thursday afternoon.

We're going to go see "Gravity" on the 3D imax screen up in Big Town (Manchester).

We're both psyched.

And tonight we're going to watch, er, something as a reward for getting the cleaning done.

Another good thing is that I think I've found a doable recipe for Page's birthday cake (gluten- and egg-free makes for difficult baking). It will involve prunes... It actually does sound delicious and adaptable.

I also perfected the chocolate almond pow* into a really delectable candy. The trick is to coat it in coconut powder.

(* Almond pow is the name Page gave to a goopy combination of almond butter, honey and coconut (either unsweetened shredded or coconut powder). When I make it without cocoa powder, I like to add a lot of ginger and/or garam masala, which makes the "pow" in the name a little more sensible, but Page prefers it plain, or with only a bit of cinnamon. Very adaptable little candy, though.)

Probably the best thing is that this is a four day weekend for me, and I'm almost all caught up on schoolwork. Only thing I have to do is my photo assignment, and I'm probably going to do that on Tuesday when my hostas arrive. (The assignment is tell a story in 10 pictures. I'll show myself planting the hostas. If it doesn't work out, I still have a day left to do something else.)

Yay! Relaxation!

So, I hope everyone else is having a nice weekend.

Gemini - Everything you do today feels about one notch harder than it should be -- but don't give up! You need to keep pushing and try to get your people to back you up when the going gets tough.

Already it's proving true... *sigh*

Considering everything that's been going on, this week hasn't been all that bad, though. Long and wearing, but not bad.

( Bullet points )

But now I should go try to do a bit of catch-up reading before class. Either that, or I'll go do a task or two in the garden to try an loosen myself up.

Hmm...