Sunday, October 30, 2005

A lot on my mind...

This weekend was pretty good. I thought I was getting sick on Friday and had to work all day Saturday (was NOT looking forward to that), but Brandon came up Friday after work which was wonderful. He made me dinner and we prepared ourselves for Saturday, since he helped me at the event (thanks babe!)

My office (which consists of 4 people) decided to host a state wide forum for graduate education...over 1,000 students were at CSUS Saturday...and I was trying to deal with them from 7-4. It was a very long day. But it was certainly nice to have Brandon beside me, helping out and keeping me comfortable. With him that it wasn't completely horrible, just horrible :)
We came home and he made me his "famous" calzone - they were quite delicious, we drank the rest of our bottle of wine left over from Friday night and watched TV until we crashed about 10.

Sunday involved church, a lot of talking and finally getting some school stuff done. I actually did a fair amount considering I only worked from 2-5 and 6:30-7:30. But now all that talking is on my mind. Lots to think about, but it's good stuff. Not easy, but good.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Our Little Moose



Well, here's the first picture of our new puppy, most likely to be named Moose. She is a black lab and we will be picking her up in two weeks. She look so adorable, I can't wait and there will likely be many more pictures of her to come...

Finally.

Well, there may still be hope for America...now, if we can only defeat the govenator.

Friday, October 21, 2005

School has made me crazy.

I have always been a hard worker, particularly in school. I think it has a lot to do with my dad being a teacher. My parents always expected the best from me and therefore I always expected the best from myself. However, I realized sooner than my father that sometimes my best was a B or B+ instead of an A. I did well in elementary school and had straight A's during middle school, but high school I started to slip a little bit. I believe I had 6 Bs/B+s on my high school transcript. My dad was never too happy about Bs when they were on my report card, but somehow I still managed to get into college (this statement is written with much sarcasm). In college all my parents expected (beside my best) was a 3.0 and I managed to graduate with a 3.79. Now that I am in graduate school the craziness has really set in.

I don't think I have felt pressure from my parents about grades since my first semester of college, so to make up for it, I am putting the pressure on myself. I am taking a class this semester called European Historiography. This is not my favorite course. It is mainly focused on historical theory, something I know relatively nothing about. Anyway, two weeks ago we had to turn in a 5-6 page rough draft of a paper which was the beginning of a 10-15 page final paper. The paper is supposed to explore the way in which a historical subject has been approached by different authors who used a discernable theoretical methodology in their work. So in the draft I (and I think pretty much everyone else) mentioned different authors and the theories they used, but didn't go too in depth. I figured that is where I would elaborate during the final draft...

Well we got these drafts back on Wednesday night. Before handing them back he said that he had given all As and Bs and they were all pretty good, but some people needed to work on their paragraph structure. I am sitting there thinking, "what morons in graduate school don't know how to write a paragraph??" He also went on and on about how we all needed to elaborate on the theory aspect of the paper. Well...yeah. You asked for a 5-6 page draft, how much theory do you think we can cram in there?? So he hands them back and I had received a B. I was one of the students with the lowest grade in the class. He also did not like my writing style. I have never had a professor dislike my writing. I have won awards for writing. I felt so stupid.

Then I started freaking out - if i get a B in this class it will ruin my 4.0 GPA. Now, I am not planning on going to school any longer after completing the MA in the spring, but I am pretty sure a 3.9 could get me into a PhD program if I really wanted to go. I also don't like this class and would say it is the most challenging one I have been in. So if my best is a B, it shouldn't be the end of the world. I keep telling myself that I am over it because having a 4.0 when I graduate just doesn't matter...but it would be pretty cool!

I know that in the grand scheme of things this is so unimportant and yet i wasted all of this time writing about it and felt like i was going to cry Wednesday night in class...I swear, school has made me crazy!!

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Bond...James Bond.

I am very disappointed with the new actor who has been chosen to play James Bond. Daniel Craig...are you kidding me?? This guy is no where near as sexy as Pierce Brosnan. I will let you be the judge though:


Friday, October 14, 2005

Boys are Dumb, Part Duex

I can't believe I didn't post this last week...but now that i have some down time I feel it is a story that needs to be shared - at least for the humor of it.I am not sure which is better, this story or the original Boys are Dumb, but they are both pretty entertaining!

The story really begins in September when I had to attend a meeting instructing history graduate students how to be graders. Having been a grader last semester, I wasn't too excited about going, but I would be paid, so what the heck. At this event I met a boy, we'll call him S, who had been assigned to the professor I had graded for during the spring semester. After the "training" session was over, S and I spoke a bit about the class and the prof and I gave him some tips. He is in his first semester of grad school so we also talked a bit life before graduate school, but it was brief.

Fast forward a few weeks and I received the following email from him:

Hey Annie,
I'm one of the graders for the History Dept and I met
you at that union meeting that one Friday. I had some
questions about how you graded for Dr. X's
class. Do you want to meet on campus some time?


Now, I am not the type of girl that guys try to pick up on, so I am not to bright when it comes to being hit on, but I thought to myself, "hmm...sounds a bit fishy - I mean, who has questions about grading?" But I thought, well, I can't say to him, "I think you are interested in me and don't really have a question," because how self-absorbed would THAT be? So I email him back and agree to meet him about a week later in between work and my class.

The day rolls around that I have to meet him and I know it is going to be bad. At work I spent the day trying to figure out to casually tell S that I have a boyfriend without sounding like a b*tch. We meet up and he dives into random conversation, tries to get me to go into the Union and eat with him, but I decline and suggest sitting outside. As we sit down on the bench of a planter I turn my body to look at him, while he continues talking while facing directly forward...clearly things are already uncomfortable!

So he talks about how he used to live in Davis, hints around going up to Davis that night and going out (as if I am going to say, "oh, where, maybe I will join you"). Finally I manage to raise the issue of having a boyfriend (albeit not very smoothly), but S just keeps on talking. I finally manage to steer the conversation to the class (you know, the supposed reason we were meeting at all) and we talk a bit about it. Eventually i pull my book for that nights class out of my bag and beg off, saying I need to read.

No where in the conversation to did ANY question about grading come up. I mean, come on, at least make up a fake question to start off the conversation and then hope it goes somewhere. I felt badly for him, I mean I am sure he's a nice person, but don't lie to a girl to get her to meet you. Afterwards I wondered if he thought that we were going to be on a date? I mean, he got me to meet him under false pretenses. It was all very strange. My roommate's comment: "That guy needs to work on his game!"

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Condoms aren't THAT expensive...

in fact you can get them for free from planned parenthood...oy.

Married @ 12

Yesterday my roommate and I were discussing how we both have had absolutely nothing interesting/important to post to our blogs. No one wants to hear the inane details of my everyday life all the time and I understand that. So I have been trying to come up with something important to address and i think that the best i can do is discuss a People Magazine article my roommate pointed out to me last night.

This is one of those "I can't believe people still do this stuff" types of articles. It is the love story of a 14 year old girl and a 22 year boy who are married and have a baby. The adorable couple began to date at the tender ages of 12 and 20. While the girl's mother forbid it, the boy's parents apparently saw nothing wrong with their sons actions and even let the couple spend the night at their home where they engaged in what the government likes to call "statutory rape" on each occasion. Once the darling girl was pregnant her lover whisked her across the border to Kansas, where girls as young as 12 can be married, and made her his wife. As she begins her freshman year of high school as a wife and mother, her husband is awaiting prosecution for committing statutory rape - and they live still live with his parents.

This raises a number of important issues - like who in the hell is getting married at 12 and why is there only an age set for girls? Can a 7 year old boy "take a wife?"

But it also just makes you wonder what she'll be like as a 30 year old grandma and a 45 year old great grandmother...if the cycle repeats itself, which somehow, I think it will...

Always in my memory

These pictures are to honor my adorable yellow lab, Sunny, who had to be put to sleep on October 2, 2005.



Wednesday, October 05, 2005

My Virtual Pets



adopt your own virtual pet!


This is the only puppy I will have for awhile, but my parents have decided they will get a new puppy in the spring, which is exciting.

Virtual Bunny



adopt your own virtual pet!



At my parents house a bunny has been visiting our back yard. We don't know who's house it has escaped from, but it is so cute. It's black with a white spot on its nose and it hops around they yard. Since I don't know if it will be back, here is my tribute to the bunny.

Monday, October 03, 2005

Weekend



This was an interesting weekend. I took a trip to Los Angeles with my boyfriend and a good friend to go to my alumni bbq. It was so nice to be back in the place where I feel like I "figured out who I was," and to be around some LMU friends again. I was able to have coffee with a favorite professor Friday which was a blast. I took four classes from her during my final semester of college she was like my personal therapist helping me deal with the end of my very long relationship. I love her for the knowledge she provided me academically and the guidance she provided me personally. Then it was off to my old office to see the advisor and show Brandon where i used to spend most of my college days. We had dinner with my dear friend Kristin and he fiancee which was yummy and gave us a great opportunity to catch up. We realized we hadn't actually seen each other since we graduated in May 2004.

Saturday we went to Disneyland which was great. I hadn't been there in a few years and Brandon hadn't been since he was 11 or 12, so it was fun to experience it with him. We were very lucky in the morning. For some reason there were very few people there until about 11 am, so we were able to go on every big ride before 10. It happened to be "Gay Day," so maybe people were boycotting the park or something, but it worked out very well for us.

Sunday was the BBQ and although we weren't able to stay long it was just nice to be back on campus and see some familiar LMU faces. We spend some more time with Kristin and Mark and ran into some other people who I didn't necessarily expect to see which was interesting.

The weekend was really a wonderful getaway. Unfortunately when we got home, my parents told me that they had had to put our yellow lab Sunny to sleep while I was gone. We had to put our black lab Shady to sleep in May before i left for England, so this has been a very rough year for us. Now we are without doggies and it is very odd. My family has had at least one lab since before i was born. I wish that I could get a puppy but that isn't going to happen while I live in an apartment so my life will be dog-free for awhile. It is so strange to be at my parents house and not see her lounging around or playing with one of her little toys...

But I should be working. Going away this weekend didn't leave me much time for homework and since I have big project for one of my classes coming up and a paper to finish that is due tomorrow i should get to it. I will try to add some pictures of the weekend later since right now it won't let me do it...