So we got our room! It's not the one we really wanted, but it's almost as good and we all got one together. So YAY!
The one we wanted was located right in the middle of campus, which would have been SO NICE because all my classes are on North Campus so it would have been pretty easy to get to class every day. The one we GOT is basically the same apartment as the one we wanted, but it's all the way on South Campus. So it will take me a good 20 minutes to get to my classes every day. Which is fine, it's just a big change from the 3-5 minutes it takes me now. But on the bright side, I'll get more exercise! :) So it all worked out, just not how we were expecting. Things tend to work that way more often than not, I think.
Speaking of things working out, I'm teaching two tenth grade classes about WWII and the Holocaust* today. I'm PRETTY NERVOUS. I've never taught actual high schoolers before. I've taught college students pretending to be high schoolers, but somehow I don't think it's going to be the same. *sigh* So, wish me luck! I'll tell you all about it tonight.
Until then, best wishes!
-Allison
*Aren't I supposed to be an ENGLISH teacher? How did I end up teaching a lesson on HISTORY? :-/
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
What Ever Happened to Seniority?
GRRRRR! I missed ANOTHER night! *sigh* In my defense, I was up until 1:30 am working on a paper, so it didn't even OCCUR to me to blog. Sorry, guys.
So tomorrow is going to be INTERESTING. See, my school has a lot of students and not nearly enough housing. Lots of people live off campus, but the incoming Freshman class keeps getting bigger and bigger each year, and this year the housing situation was DIRE. They're cramming as many people into these buildings as possible. So they decided to change up the application process. Instead of going with seniority (like they have every other year I've been here) and giving the upperclassmen priority to choose their housing, they made it an all-out lottery. So unlike years past when I got to choose my room several DAYS before the sophomores or freshmen got to choose theirs, I'm stuck with one of the much later dates (tomorrow) because that was my "randomly assigned" lottery date. Of course, since my roomies and I were ALL given tomorrow as our date, most of the potential rooms are already taken. Which means we're all kinda screwed. Which kinda sucks.
The good news? My mom is transferring up to NAU next year, so if I can't get a room on campus I'll share an apartment with her.
Still, though. This whole this is rather frustrating.
I'll let you guys know what happens tomorrow. Until then, best wishes!
-Allison
So tomorrow is going to be INTERESTING. See, my school has a lot of students and not nearly enough housing. Lots of people live off campus, but the incoming Freshman class keeps getting bigger and bigger each year, and this year the housing situation was DIRE. They're cramming as many people into these buildings as possible. So they decided to change up the application process. Instead of going with seniority (like they have every other year I've been here) and giving the upperclassmen priority to choose their housing, they made it an all-out lottery. So unlike years past when I got to choose my room several DAYS before the sophomores or freshmen got to choose theirs, I'm stuck with one of the much later dates (tomorrow) because that was my "randomly assigned" lottery date. Of course, since my roomies and I were ALL given tomorrow as our date, most of the potential rooms are already taken. Which means we're all kinda screwed. Which kinda sucks.
The good news? My mom is transferring up to NAU next year, so if I can't get a room on campus I'll share an apartment with her.
Still, though. This whole this is rather frustrating.
I'll let you guys know what happens tomorrow. Until then, best wishes!
-Allison
Friday, April 8, 2011
JURY DUTY!!!
You guys, I just got my first ever summons to JURY DUTY! I feel like a GROWNUP! :)
Of course, I won't be able to go. I'll be, like, studying for finals in a different city. But still. I feel special now. *is an adult*
Anyway, I'm afraid that's all for tonight. I'm home for the weekend and I have lots going on. Maybe tomorrow I'll write a more extensive blog after I've finished my homework and stuff. We'll see.
Best wishes! <3
Of course, I won't be able to go. I'll be, like, studying for finals in a different city. But still. I feel special now. *is an adult*
Anyway, I'm afraid that's all for tonight. I'm home for the weekend and I have lots going on. Maybe tomorrow I'll write a more extensive blog after I've finished my homework and stuff. We'll see.
Best wishes! <3
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Blogging in Bed!
So I was laying in bed, about to go to sleep, when I realized--I hadn't blogged yet! Yikes! So instead of getting back up, waking up my computer, and writing a fancy-schmancy blog, I am blogging from my iTouch! Yaaaay for handheld devices with Internet access! :) Although I have to say, this would be MUCH easier with an iPAD :)
Anyway, this is kinda hard, so I think I'm gonna cut it off here. I'll do my best to get you folks a much more interesting blog tomorrow.
Until then, best wishes! <3
Anyway, this is kinda hard, so I think I'm gonna cut it off here. I'll do my best to get you folks a much more interesting blog tomorrow.
Until then, best wishes! <3
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Well SHOOT.
Okay, okay. I missed a day already. Don't hate. There's no such this as failure in BEDA. When you miss a day you get back up on your feet and blog the next day. That's just how it goes.
So you want to hear WHY I missed a day? It's actually not all that exciting, lol. See, we have this HUGE EVENT going on tonight called Polynesian Experience. It's our biggest event of the year. We decorate a big section of the union with Hawaiian/Polynesian decorations and then have crafts and entertainment and food for anyone who wants to come. So LAST night we had to set up all the decorations. We were really blessed because a TON of people showed up to help out, so the decorating went relatively quickly. Still, though, it was an exhausting end to a long day.
After we finished setting up some of us went to IHOP because we were hungry and all the places in the union were already closed. It was delicious, of course, but I was so freaking tired when I got home that I didn't even THINK of blogging. I went to bed at like 11:15. Which is pretty early for me. Go figure, though--I couldn't fall asleep. So now I'm tired AGAIN because it took me a while to really fall asleep last night and then I had weirdo sci-fi/fantasy/dystopian dreams. And I'm not gonna do much better tonight. *SIGH* These last two weeks have been particularly difficult. But never fear! The semester is almost over and then I will REALLY get a chance to rest! Woo hoo!
So, yeah. That's the dealio. Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. Maybe I'll do a vlog next week to make up for it :)
Until tomorrow, best wishes!
-Allison
So you want to hear WHY I missed a day? It's actually not all that exciting, lol. See, we have this HUGE EVENT going on tonight called Polynesian Experience. It's our biggest event of the year. We decorate a big section of the union with Hawaiian/Polynesian decorations and then have crafts and entertainment and food for anyone who wants to come. So LAST night we had to set up all the decorations. We were really blessed because a TON of people showed up to help out, so the decorating went relatively quickly. Still, though, it was an exhausting end to a long day.
After we finished setting up some of us went to IHOP because we were hungry and all the places in the union were already closed. It was delicious, of course, but I was so freaking tired when I got home that I didn't even THINK of blogging. I went to bed at like 11:15. Which is pretty early for me. Go figure, though--I couldn't fall asleep. So now I'm tired AGAIN because it took me a while to really fall asleep last night and then I had weirdo sci-fi/fantasy/dystopian dreams. And I'm not gonna do much better tonight. *SIGH* These last two weeks have been particularly difficult. But never fear! The semester is almost over and then I will REALLY get a chance to rest! Woo hoo!
So, yeah. That's the dealio. Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. Maybe I'll do a vlog next week to make up for it :)
Until tomorrow, best wishes!
-Allison
Monday, April 4, 2011
In Defense of Nerdfighters (A Discussion about People, Groups, and "Posers")
Okay, folks! Here's the dealio. A friend of mine on Twitter said that he thought these "Nerdfighters" that have been going around the web were just hipster "nerds". I, being a Nerdfighter, decided to rally to our defense! It was actually a really interesting conversation and I came to some interesting conclusions about people and about myself.
1. A single group of people is complex, even if they are united by a common characteristic: in this case, "nerds". There are many people who identify as nerds, and each person has their own definition of what it means to BE a nerd. I, for example, consider myself more of a language nerd, though I enjoy other classically "nerdy" things like video games and puzzles. There are other nerds out there, though, who are math nerds. Vihart is an excellent example of this. Now, I don't know if Vihart considers herself a Nerdfighter, but I do think she considers herself a nerd, which puts us both into the same group. And yet we are SO DIFFERENT. The cool thing is, though, I can respect and even enjoy her nerdiness, despite the fact that my love is language rather than math. So not only do we need to see individual people complexly, but we also need to see groups complexly.
2. Who cares WHY other people do what they do or claim to be who they claim to be? That doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if someone claims to love Harry Potter because all the cool kids love Harry Potter. That's THEIR decision. Just because I love Harry Potter for the sake of loving it doesn't mean that I should judge other people because I think they're just Potter POSERS. If I think that Harry Potter has lost its value because other people like it for reasons I deem NON-LEGITIMATE, then I'm just as bad as people who say they like something just because it's the cool thing to like. I don't care what other people think about Harry Potter, I LOVE Harry Potter and that will never be affected by what other people think about it. Ceasing to like something because other people like it for its "coolness" is just as bad as liking something only because it is "cool."
3. I had a third point, but I can't remember what it was going to be. So, yeah. Lol.
Anyway, I just thought this was a really interesting discussion. If you'd like to see our whole conversation, I've transcribed it for you! (I did tweak a few grammatical things, fyi. Didn't change any content, just added an apostrophe here and there and elongated things like "b/c" that are necessary on Twitter. Also, color coded for your enjoyment.)
1. A single group of people is complex, even if they are united by a common characteristic: in this case, "nerds". There are many people who identify as nerds, and each person has their own definition of what it means to BE a nerd. I, for example, consider myself more of a language nerd, though I enjoy other classically "nerdy" things like video games and puzzles. There are other nerds out there, though, who are math nerds. Vihart is an excellent example of this. Now, I don't know if Vihart considers herself a Nerdfighter, but I do think she considers herself a nerd, which puts us both into the same group. And yet we are SO DIFFERENT. The cool thing is, though, I can respect and even enjoy her nerdiness, despite the fact that my love is language rather than math. So not only do we need to see individual people complexly, but we also need to see groups complexly.
2. Who cares WHY other people do what they do or claim to be who they claim to be? That doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if someone claims to love Harry Potter because all the cool kids love Harry Potter. That's THEIR decision. Just because I love Harry Potter for the sake of loving it doesn't mean that I should judge other people because I think they're just Potter POSERS. If I think that Harry Potter has lost its value because other people like it for reasons I deem NON-LEGITIMATE, then I'm just as bad as people who say they like something just because it's the cool thing to like. I don't care what other people think about Harry Potter, I LOVE Harry Potter and that will never be affected by what other people think about it. Ceasing to like something because other people like it for its "coolness" is just as bad as liking something only because it is "cool."
3. I had a third point, but I can't remember what it was going to be. So, yeah. Lol.
Anyway, I just thought this was a really interesting discussion. If you'd like to see our whole conversation, I've transcribed it for you! (I did tweak a few grammatical things, fyi. Didn't change any content, just added an apostrophe here and there and elongated things like "b/c" that are necessary on Twitter. Also, color coded for your enjoyment.)
FRIEND (original tweet that sparked the discussion): Maybe it’s just me but this "nerdfighter" stuff that I see going around the net seems like just a bunch of hipster "nerds".
ME: Nerdfighters come in all shapes and sizes (and incidentally have been "going around the net" since 2007).
ME: Not sure how you're defining "hipster," but I'm sure there are hipster Nerdfighters. I don't really consider MYSELF a hipster, though.
FRIEND: Yah but their interest in things that are part of nerd culture seems shallow. More to be cool than geeking out over stuff
ME: Hmm. Would you consider my interest in Harry Potter to be more "cool" than "geeking out"? Because it's definitely not.
FRIEND: Again, just impressions but these aren’t the people I think of when I think nerds (being one myself and around them)
ME: Honestly? There probably are Nerdfighters who call themselves that to be cool. But you'll get that with any group.
FRIEND: I mean hipster as in being interested because it’s different from the mainstream, rather than legitimately being invested
ME: I just think it's dangerous to generalize a group of very diverse people. I'd say many Nerdfigthers ARE interested in mainstream.
FRIEND: Nah, you're legitimately nerdy about HP haha. But I’m talking people who throw out a portal joke and prolly never played it
ME: Yeah, well that IS annoying. But, again, probably not the majority of Nerdfighters.
ME: The other thing, often jokes from specific things like video games become in-jokes between Nerdfighters who haven't played them. Like, I could say "the cake is a lie" and I get the background of the joke, but to me it's funny because other people who HAVE used it in a context that was funny and it caught on. That's true in popular culture, too, though. Lots of allusions are made to literature or sports in everyday speech by people who don't even KNOW what they're alluding to.
FRIEND: Understandable, but as someone who is personally invested in it, it can be rather annoying to see people act that way
ME: I totally get that. Really. I would never say "the cake is a lie" because I've only heard it second hand. But you can understand why I take your hipster "nerds" comment as frustrating because I am personally invested in Nerdfighteria and am sincere about it
FRIEND: For an example relevant to you - Imagine someone wearing some "Dumbledore's Army" shirt, but who’s never read Harry Potter
ME: See, I don't know. That might bother me initially, but when I thought about it I'd be excited to see how far a reach my beloved Harry Potter has had. I would definitely encourage them to actually READ the books, though.
FRIEND: True, but a lot of these people won’t. They just want to be part of the in crowd. When we're not doing it to be cool, but because we're legitimately interested. It kinda diminishes it imo
ME: See, that's where I disagree. Nothing can diminish your love for something other than your own feelings. By saying that other people liking it for the sake of being "cool" diminishes the value of that thing, then you are just as bad as those who you would call hipsters who liked the thing for it's "value" (non-mainstreamness) in the first place.
FRIEND: I mean diminishes in that people like it for superficial reasons, not pertaining to its actual quality. So the average person sees it not for its actual qualities, but the superficiality that’s most readily seen
ME: But I don't think that diminishes it. Who cares why people like it? It doesn't matter if it's superficially diminished. Screw them. Lol. Seriously, though. It might even help some people discover its awesomeness if they find it because it's "cool."
FRIEND: I just think people should enjoy things for their actual quality, not for example, because other people enjoy them
ME: I agree with you, but since we can't change WHY other people do things, I'm not gonna let it bother me :)
FRIEND: I get what you're saying about discovery which is a valid point. Maybe its worth having "posers" (for lack of a better term) if the one person out of 1000 actually ends up liking it because its good, not to follow the crowd
ME Yup, that's what I'm sayin'. Take Buffy for example. Never would've watched it if it weren't popular, but I LOVE it now. And honestly? A good chunk of the reason I watched it was because other people talked about it and I wanted in on the jokes.
FRIEND: This discussion went in a pretty different direction haha. Part of my worry is when a group caters too much to the mainstream, and by extension, loses what made it so good in the first place. Which happens a lot in consumer media
ME: It did, lol! Good discussion, though! And yeah, that is totally understandable. But people gotta make money, and mainstream is a LOT more lucrative than relative obscurity.
FRIEND: And by the end of this discussion, I'm the one thats (kinda) looking like a hipster. That’s irony haha.
ME: SUCKAH!!! Lol :)
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Oh, Darlin', Don't You Ever Grow Up
At the end of last year I posted a blog about my goals for 2011. Today I want to look at my progress on these goals.
1. Graduate college- Well, this isn't technically going to happen this year. I have two more classes that I have to take next semester, so I won't actually be student teaching until Spring 2012. But THEN I'll graduate. So I'm only a little behind on this one.
2. Re-write NaNo novel from 2008- This one is mostly going to happen over the summer (which has been my plan since I made the goal). But I HAVE been getting involved with some awesome writers and I'm totally feeling the motivation! This one is definitely going to happen.
3. Upload 100 videos- Heh. Ummm . . . yeah, not doing so well on this one yet. This semester has been pretty darn busy. But it's only April! I think I can still do this one. It's just going to take some diligence.
4. Read 50 books- Doing much better on this one than the video-making one. I've read 10 books so far this year, which means I'm a little behind if we're going with one-book-a-week, but this is another goal that is going to get a major boost over the summer. Also, I decided to make this goal official on Goodreads (which is an AWESOME website that I hadn't used before but now REALLY LOVE), so you can watch me as I read (and usually review) each book that I read this year: Allison's Goodreads Challenge.
5. Exercise regularly- No comment. *insert excuse about schoolwork and stuff*
6. Watch Dr. Who- Hasn't happened yet. WILL HAPPEN. But I'm not worried about this one. When I marathon a show, I MARATHON IT.
7. Start a weekly vlog with my roomie Janice- See #3.
8. Fall in nerdfighterlike- Nope. Nothing at all on this front. There just aren't many LDS guys in Flagstaff that are single or my age. Maybe I'll meet someone this summer! Maybe.
So it looks like I'm actually doing okay on these goals! It's only April, so it's still a little early to tell, but I think it's best to think about them more than just at the beginning and end of the year.
Until tomorrow, best wishes!
P. S. Title is from Taylor Swift's song "Never Grow Up" (because I'm listening to that song right now and I couldn't think of a title and it seemed to fit better than "I Am Not the Kind of Girl Who Should Be Rudely Barging In On a White Veil Occasion" . . . I'll use that one for the blog when I talk about my epic Hogwarts Wedding.)
P. P. S. Check out my blog! I changed it up and it's all cute now :)
1. Graduate college- Well, this isn't technically going to happen this year. I have two more classes that I have to take next semester, so I won't actually be student teaching until Spring 2012. But THEN I'll graduate. So I'm only a little behind on this one.
2. Re-write NaNo novel from 2008- This one is mostly going to happen over the summer (which has been my plan since I made the goal). But I HAVE been getting involved with some awesome writers and I'm totally feeling the motivation! This one is definitely going to happen.
3. Upload 100 videos- Heh. Ummm . . . yeah, not doing so well on this one yet. This semester has been pretty darn busy. But it's only April! I think I can still do this one. It's just going to take some diligence.
4. Read 50 books- Doing much better on this one than the video-making one. I've read 10 books so far this year, which means I'm a little behind if we're going with one-book-a-week, but this is another goal that is going to get a major boost over the summer. Also, I decided to make this goal official on Goodreads (which is an AWESOME website that I hadn't used before but now REALLY LOVE), so you can watch me as I read (and usually review) each book that I read this year: Allison's Goodreads Challenge.
5. Exercise regularly- No comment. *insert excuse about schoolwork and stuff*
6. Watch Dr. Who- Hasn't happened yet. WILL HAPPEN. But I'm not worried about this one. When I marathon a show, I MARATHON IT.
7. Start a weekly vlog with my roomie Janice- See #3.
8. Fall in nerdfighterlike- Nope. Nothing at all on this front. There just aren't many LDS guys in Flagstaff that are single or my age. Maybe I'll meet someone this summer! Maybe.
So it looks like I'm actually doing okay on these goals! It's only April, so it's still a little early to tell, but I think it's best to think about them more than just at the beginning and end of the year.
Until tomorrow, best wishes!
P. S. Title is from Taylor Swift's song "Never Grow Up" (because I'm listening to that song right now and I couldn't think of a title and it seemed to fit better than "I Am Not the Kind of Girl Who Should Be Rudely Barging In On a White Veil Occasion" . . . I'll use that one for the blog when I talk about my epic Hogwarts Wedding.)
P. P. S. Check out my blog! I changed it up and it's all cute now :)
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