Light = Bad

Have you ever had one of those mornings where you wake up and almost immediately feel the beginnings of a splitting headache?  The light is too bright, the heater is too loud, and you just want to go back to sleep but you can't because of the PAIN?

Yeah, I hate those.

See, my eyes are very sensitive to light because they are blue.  So when I have those headaches, I just want to put a pillow over my head and block out the world.  Which sucks, because how am I supposed to read or write or watch TV without the use of my eyes?

At first I just thought the headache was from my lack of nourishment.  I slept in, and then I didn't have breakfast until about an hour after I woke up, so I thought that getting some sugar and protein into my system would help.

It didn't.

Half an hour after eating I finally decided to take some Motrin, because I couldn't stand it anymore, and soon after that I was feeling much better.  I still have the shadow of a headache, but it's much less painful to expose my eyes to light than it was this morning.

I don't even want to know what it will feel like to go into daylight in a little while, though :/

Good News!

My Costume Design teacher is awesome.  I explained why I'd been missing class and not turning in assignments (the real reason, not just, "I didn't get the book," which is only an outcome of the reason), and she is going to work with me so I can pass the class.  I'm so excited.

Also, I went to my "Teaching ELL* in the English Classroom" class, and it was really good.  See, I skipped several classes for a while there in ALL my classes, and I realized today that I honestly ENJOY going to class.  I learned stuff.  I understood what the teachers were talking about.  I took notes!  It was great.

A bonus side effect of going to class?  Going outdoors!  It was lovely.  It is so nice out, and taking a brisk walk to the Liberal Arts building was great.  I felt great.  And I feel that urge to LEARN again.

See, I know in my head that it's not good to hole yourself up in your room for weeks on end and only emerge to get groceries and go to the bank.  But sometimes it's hard to reconcile what I KNOW with what I choose to DO.  And I just got a reminder today of how nice it is to actually leave the dorm and do stuff.

ANYWAY, I just wanted to update because yesterday's post was kind of bleak and depressing, and I wanted to make it clear that I didn't just stay in that mood :)

Things are looking up!

*English Language Learners (basically, the new way of saying ESL)

A Day In the Life of a Procrastinator

You know that horrible sinking feeling you get when you have a large project due and you haven't started it?  Yeah, I'm totally feeling that right now.  I don't know how I get myself into these situations, but I hate them.

Okay, that's not true; I know exactly how I got into this.

See, the teacher sent out an email before the semester started and said not to buy any of the supplies until we come to class because she had to explain some of them.  So I didn't buy the books ahead of time, like I normally* do.  So on the first day of class she explained which books and art supplies we would need first.  (The class is Basic Costume Design, so we have to draw stuff.)  I bought the books that she said we would need immediately and called it a day.

Fast forward to two weeks ago.  We had our first assignment due on the play we were supposed to read, and I still hadn't bought it.  The night before it was due I tried to find it, but the only bookstore that had it was the university's bookstore, and it was closed for the day.  I considered getting up at 8 the next morning to buy it, but I wouldn't have time to read the play and do the assignment before class started at 9:30, so I didn't get it.  I felt bad for not doing the assignment, but I had done pretty well on the first few quizzes, so I wasn't too worried.  Then I missed a few classes.  And I felt guilty for missing class and not knowing what the homework was, so missed again.  I knew the final assignment was coming up, but without being in class and hearing the reminders, I didn't realize how soon.  The teacher sent out an email with the assignment specifications, and it said the due date was this Thursday.  I still hadn't bought the book.

I should have gotten it this weekend, but I was at home from Friday to Tuesday and I didn't want to get it there.  Then Tuesday morning I woke up at 5 am (*shudder*) and drove back to school so I could make it to that 9:30 class.  I got to dorm at about 8:40, took a nap, and then went to class.  I hadn't been to class in a while, so of course I had no idea what was going on.  The teacher says something at the end of class about turning in our final designs on Thursday.  I realize that it's time for me to buy the play.

Fast forward to this afternoon at 3:45.  I had called the bookstore and asked them to hold the play for me.  I was going to go pick it up pretty soon, but I wasn't in a rush.  Then my friend came by and said, "Hey, are you ready to go?"  I had completely forgotten about my plans to go to her lesson with the sister missionaries.  I drove to the bookstore really fast, got the book, and then made it to her lesson only a couple minutes late.  I came home and read blogs, watched videos, checked Twitter and Facebook.  I talked to my friends.  Finally around dinner time my friend asked if I wanted to go get food with her at the union, and I told her I couldn't because I had homework.  So then I actually started reading the play (after procrastinating a bit more).  And then I had a Hall Council meeting (which took FOREVER).  And now I'm here.  Writing a blog.

So, yes, I know exactly how I got to this point.

What I don't know is how to make myself care more about my grades when I only have ONE STUPID YEAR LEFT.  I have to finish college.  There is no other option.  And I can finish.  I got myself this far.  I'm just so ready to MOVE ON.  I want to start my life, my real life.  I want to teach.  I want to write.  I want to live in my own place and be able to pay my own bills with my big, fat teacher's salary.  I want to spend my free time fixing up my novel and looking for an agent.  But in order to do these things I HAVE TO FINISH COLLEGE.

You remember The Little Engine That Could?  I guess I just need to be like that guy.  He didn't wait until the last minute to gather up his winter store to sustain him through the cold February nights.  Or maybe that was the Ant and the Grasshopper.  Whatever.  The point is, it's time for me to -- shudder -- CHANGE.

Here goes nothin'.




*Actually, since I'm a junior now and the novelty of buying textbooks has worn off, I didn't buy any of my books ahead of time.  I waited until the first week of the semester.  It was weird.  When I was a freshman, I bought them as soon as the lists went up over summer.  I'm such a nerd.

Blerg.

So.  I propose that we all just drop out of school and join the circus.

(Readers: *cheer*)

Oh, what was that?  We only have one year left and it would be silly to abandon school at this point?  Well, pish posh!

Fine.  I won't drop out of school.  I have a good thing going for me here with my scholarships and my housing situation and my new job.  And I really do like to learn.  I just... grow weary of the school side of learning.  I mean, I have been in school for over fifteen years now.  That's three-quarters of my life.  I think it's high time to MOVE ON.

Of course, when I say "move on from school," what I really mean is, "move on to... more school."  Because I'm going to be a teacher.  At a school.  Which means that I will spend a VERY SIGNIFICANT PORTION of my life AT SCHOOL.

This doesn't bother me, really.  I enjoy school.  I love the atmosphere and the learning.  I'm just ready to be done being the LEARNER and become the LEARNEE IMPARTER OF KNOWLEDGE.  Honestly, I'm really excited to be going back to high school.  College is great, but I love working with teenagers.  The friendship and the drama and the coming-of-age: I thrive on it.  And I think I have a lot to offer high-schoolers.  I can relate to them, because it wasn't so long ago that I was a high-schooler, too.  I still remember what it was like to get asked to Homecoming or to bomb a test or to get cast in a play.  And I want to, as mentioned before, IMPART some of my vast stores of HIGH SCHOOL KNOWLEDGE onto these teens.

But you want to know a secret?  As excited as I am to start teaching (and believe me, I am EXCITED), the thing I want most of all... is to be a mom.  I want a family.  BADLY.  But it seems to me that I won't reach that goal for a few years at LEAST (seeing as I don't even have a PROSPECTIVE boyfriend, let alone someone who wants to marry me), I'll just focus on the teacher thing.  Because I miss high school, and I love to teach, and I know it's going to be awesome.  That family will come in due time.

I hope.

:)

-Allison

Hello, blog!

Well!  I decided it was high time I got myself a normal blog.  I have a blog dedicated to my semester in Mexico, but rather that go back to using that one I thought it might be nice to have an everyday blog.  So, here it is!  And just in time, too!

You see, BEDA is coming up soon.  (Blog Every Day in April.  Don't know what I'm talking about?  Check this out.  It's a crazy thing that the awesome author Maureen Johnson came up with last year, and I am very excited for this year!)  And I really want to get into the habit of blogging again.  I did pretty well last year, but I haven't really blogged since then.  And I like to blog.  It's fun.  It's like writing in a journal, except you're displaying that journal to anyone with internet access.

Not that I really expect people to read my blog.  Maybe my friends.  Maybe my mom.  And that's only if they're really bored and have nothing better to do.

HOWEVER.  On the off chance that somebody new really is reading this... well, hello!  Nice to meet you!  Let me introduce myself:

I'm Allison!  I'm a college student in northern Arizona and I love to read and write.  Also, I'm a Nerdfighter.  Don't know what that is?  That's okay!  Check out this INFORMATIONAL VIDEO!  (It's hilarious, and it will help you understand some of the random things I talk about.)



I like to participate in crazy internet things.  Which is why you will hear from me every day in April, and come November I'll probably blog very rarely and only about the novel I'm furiously writing*.  I love Twitter.  I love YouTube (for the community of awesome people, not the illegally uploaded episodes of The Office).  I love Facebook and DailyBooth and Formspring and any other social networking site you can think of.

But there is something I love even more than the internet: BOOKS.  I love to read.  I read often and when I am reading something I am DEDICATED.  I usually finish a book in two or three days, depending on the length of the book and the amount of time I spend doing important things like eating or going to class.

I'm majoring in English Education (because I LOVE English), but if I can make my dreams come true, I'll be a published author.  Of a real-live book.  ASAP.

And that, my friends, is my life in a nutshell.  Hope I'm not too boring!  If you're so inclined, please leave a comment.  Comments are love, and it's always nice to make new friends!


*See NaNoWriMo

Song Stuck In My Head: Prince Ali (Aladdin)
Most Recent Book: Rampant by Diana Peterfruend
Days Until New Moon on DVD: 31