Keeping Classes Organized

Listening to The Vince Guaraldi Trio
Preparing for ten days of zero contact with Corey
    I am so ready for fall, guys. I want that crisp, cool fall air, and the leaves blowing around on the breezes. I'm tired of being hot all the time. And I'm really tired of my car breaking down (four times now, in the past week) and the air conditioning not working. I want sweaters, boots and scarves. That's why I'm listening to Vince Guaraldi. He wrote all the Peanuts music, and I listen to him all autumn and winter. I'm breaking out the Trio so that cooler weather better be on the way!
    I'm pretty proud, though, y'all. Three weeks into school and I'm still organized! I've started procrastinating a little, but I finished a whole book for Tuesday yesterday and I'm pretty happy with that. I've been doing something different this semester as far as my notes are concerned, too.
    In previous years, I'd take notes on loose leaf paper, stuff it in that first flap-sleeve thing in the front of my binder, and then forget about it. Then, when the test came around and I desperately needed all my notes to cram (usually the morning of) I had to frantically search through a two-inch-thick stack of papers to find the notes for the right class, then spend ten or fifteen minutes attempting to put them in chronological order so I could keep all the info organized in my brain. (There are, like, special codes for remembering things in my mind. Chronological order seems to be one of them.) This wasted at least half an hour of my early-morning cram time, and we all know how important that time is.
    This semester I'm doing things differently. I have one two-inch binder with five dividers. I have two spiral bound notebooks in which I take notes. I title each page with the class name and the date so I never have to worry about "which class was this?" and "what day did we talk about that?" I don't worry about organizing it during the day because typically, professors start talking as soon as I sit down and I don't want to waste time between classes when I'm normally booking it to my next class. I don't even think about which notebook I'm using. I just keep both for the heck of it. Any loose paper that's handed back - tests or quizzes or papers - I put in that inside flap-sleeve in the binder.
    That sounds like a modified version of my past rifling and huge pile of papers, but here's the catch. I don't leave it like that. First thing I do when I come home at the end of the evening is sit down with my notebooks and binder and tear out all the notes I've taken. This is a great time to go over what I wrote down, think back to the lecture or discussion, and do a quick run-through of the class. That means less study-time later cause I've already gone over it once. It's good to do this the day of the class while it's still fresh in your brain.
    Remember all those papers that were handed back? I take those out and go over them, too. If it's a test or quiz, I look at what I got wrong and the professor's comments. If it's a paper that needs revision, I do the same thing and may even make a few cursory notes to myself for later. Then, I hole-punch them and put them in my binder in their respective dividers along with all the notes I tore out of the notebooks that day.
    It sounds kind of time-consuming, but so far it's really helped me. I've already remembered much more from previous lectures than I have in the past, which gives me hope for my coming exams.

Do you have any systems for keeping your notes organized? I'll take all the help I can get!

Keep the Positivity Going

Listening to Maestro from The Holiday (sometimes I just need something to be my soundtrack, you know?)
Bracing myself for the upcoming semester.
    I start every semester so confidently. Yes, I can handle every class, and here are all my books, and sure you can borrow a pen because I have a billion, and oh I'm drinking pumpkin spice tea that I had plenty of time to French press this morning, and let me just jot that down in my planner. Roughly four weeks in, I'm reduced to sweats, half my books were left in the car because I didn't feel like carrying them, I've lost every pen but the one that only sometimes works, and we had a quiz today? When did he tell us that?
    I feel like everyone does this. In fact, I'm sure they do. You start off thinking, "I got this," and somewhere along the way, you lose your grip. For me personally, I get lazy. That's my problem. I love the concept of staying organized, and keeping track of all my notes, and using a planner. I realize its importance, I do. But it only takes one time. One "It's only one assignment, I'll remember it" that leads to "I remembered that one assignment last week, I'll remember the date of that exam and to turn in the notecards and the review guide, and then that rough draft for that other class" which ends with "Why don't I do schoolwork anymore? Surely I have something due tomorrow. How did I oversleep again?"
    I think another part of it is I lose my positivity. When the weather starts looking darker, and cloudier, and windier, and bleaker, so do my classes and my chances at doing well. Last semester was a big bummer for me. I made the Dean's List, but before you go getting excited, I started with five classes, and had to not drop, but withdraw from two. I've never withdrawn from any of my courses before, and this past Spring I withdrew from two. I cannot let that happen again.
    Some of you have already started school. Some of you started a week ago, some this past Friday, some today, and some (like me) tomorrow. But it's still early. Here is my proposition. Let's keep the positivity going. Keep a hold of the organization, and the productivity, and the planning, and the proactivity. Keep it going as long as possible. For some of us, it's our last semester (like my buddy, Hannah - you go girl!), or our last year (like me, I hope - psh, who knows). Go out with a bang. And if you still have a while longer (like I may if I can't fit everything in), don't drop the ball. Think of how great you'll feel throughout the semester without the added stress of "did I have something due today? Where did all my pens go?"
     Now I can't help you keep track of your physical stuff, but I found an app. I'm terrible at using planners, I really am. I try every semester. I buy them, fill them out with everything I know at the beginning of the semester, and then don't look at them again until I'm panicking four minutes before my midterm and I've written nothing else in them. But this one. I used it all last semester and it really saved me. iStudiez Pro. Yes. I paid for it. I downloaded the free version, and loved it so much I paid for the full. You have a calendar, and you can keep track of different classes with different colors, and quizzes and tests and finals and assignments and notifications and reminders and it's wonderful. I wasn't paid to advertise this, or review it or anything. I just found it useful. And maybe you will, too.

How do you keep organized and proactive during the semester? Tell me in the comments!

What's In My Bag?

Listening to Ingrid Michaelson Mountain and the Sea
Craving Rice Crispy Treats

    Hiya, folks. So I know this isn't exactly a beauty blog, but I do a bit here and there, and Lord knows I love my beauty YouTubers, so here's to something new! If you're anything like me, you're pretty dang curious. I'm always wanting to know what's in people's purses and bags. What they carry around with them is like a 3D scrapbook journal, it tells the story of their everydays with objects instead of pictures or words. And I find that fascinating. So here's my 3D scrapbook snippet for you! What's in my bag you ask?

 

1) Purse from Target (no longer available.)
2) Checkbook received for my high school graduation, and wallet $12 at Target.
3) Coral studded clutch, also from Target, on sale for $9. (They no longer have coral for the clutches, just black and gray for $24.99.)
4) e.l.f. Essential Wristlet in bronze $5 (now only available in silver and black).
5) Dove deodorant (in case I forget), a nail file, and Bath & Body Works hand sanitizer in Warm Vanilla Sugar to get my clean on $1.27.
6) My car and house keys and my teacher candidate ID for when I'm in the classroom.
7) Multicolored pens, to keep the creativity flowing.
8) Revlon Just Bitten Lip Balm Stains in Honey and Charm (the former is my favorite, the latter was a huge disappointment) $7.49. I also have Smitten, Rendezvous, and Romantic.
9) What used to be a mirror-brush combo. The brush fell out, so I just use that. Eyedrops - the only ones I'm not allergic to that I can use with my contacts. Dental floss, because whenever I don't have it, I need it. And to the left of those items is a card that Santa gave me when he came into my work. It says, "You've been caught being nice," because I handled a rude customer without being a you-know-what. He gave me the card, winked and said, "Hang in there."
10) My e.l.f. Studio Complete Coverage Concealer in Light $3.
11) Clean and Clear Oil Blotting Sheets $4.99. Lancôme Miracle So Magic! Shimmer Perfume Sheets. (So Magic! was my absolute favorite perfume until they discontinued it. These shimmer sheets were part of a special promotion and my mom surprised me with them.
12) My EOS lip balm $2.99. I have Summer Fruit (which, let's face it, is peach), and Sweet Mint, which I like to wear under the balm stains.
13) My two favorite e.l.f. Studio Matte Lipsticks (Praline, and Tea Rose) $3, and an Aerie lip gloss in Acai Berry (no longer available).
And in the Brackets: Advil, gum, two pairs of sunglasses (both from Target) spare house and car keys, earphones, a car adapter to charge my phone, a hair clip, bobby pins, and Coco's first dogtags.

Hope you've found this little glimpse into my purse-onal life interesting! (And you thought Pundays were over...)

Wordy Wednesday!

Listening to Caminos Cruzados (Malaguena) by Oscar Aleman 
Excited about dinner at Jerebear's and my writing group tonight!
    I've decided to add a few new features to the blog to get it a little more centered. I figure, it's summer - I have time to do this now. Things need to be more focused, something I'm not exactly good at, but I'm working on it. So. Introducing...

    Every Wednesday, I'll look through the dictionary and find a cool word that is maybe a bit more obsolete, or just so big that it's seldom used, and feature it on the blog! I used to do this in seventh grade, but I had a "Word of the Month" that I found in my Thesaurus. I'd choose a cool word and use it as often as I could. The problem was, I got stuck on the word "flabbergasting" for like four months... I promise that won't happen here. 
    So without further ado, this week's word is: 

(bih-LEY-ber) v. to explain, worry about, or work more than is necessary. to assail persistently, as with scorn or ridicule. to beat vigorously; ply with heavy blows. (obsolete) to labor at.
    Neither of them possessed energy or wit to belabor me soundly; but they insulted me as coarsely as they could in their little way. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

An Update, and a Celebration

from blacktears285 at iconator.com

Listening to awesome 80s music. We're having a love affair. Especially Bon Jovi. I want him dead or alive. (Ha, see what I did there?)
Thinking about going to bed, but not doing it.
    So, for those of you who recall, my lovely laptop Lucille crashed at the end of the summer. I put her under a lot of stress, obviously, and she just couldn't handle the pressure. It took her quite a few weeks and surgeries to recover, and she came out looking a little different due to her plastic surgery (i.e. she is now purple instead of black). At first, I wasn't a fan, but then I realized it's Pottermore purple, and I'm all over it like ketchup on meatloaf.
    Well, anyhoo, when Lucille crashed, she lost most of my important stuff, like Finale, my books (thankfully I moved them to a flash drive before the incident), and all of my music. I had it on my iPhone, of course (whose name is Olga, in case you're wondering. My sister Maggie has the white one named Helga. I know, we're awesome), but I had no way to transfer all the files back to the new iTunes I had downloaded. I transferred all the purchases, but that left a bunch of CDs and random tracks I got from other people still trapped on my phone. It's been about three months now that I've been bereft of music on Lucille. And I am tired of it.
    Celebrate with me, friends, for I have finally retrieved all of my music! I had to pay thirty bucks for a program to do it, and had a momentary pee-my-pants scare that they were scamming me to get thirty bucks outta me, but it's all good, and I have everything back to normal! I even got the new iOS 5 update and it is hardcore awesome. I finally added my own text tones and so whenever Corey texts me I hear this (specifically, 1:02. The whole thing's hilarious, though. And it's kind of an inside joke with Corey) and for everyone else, I hear this. Isn't that just a slice of Perfection Pie? Oh, and new ringtone? None other than this righteous song. Life is good.
    And I've been working on my Ambition List and numbers one and two are coming along! And six... Eeehhh... I'm trying, guys. I really am. I had to buy some make-up and soap today, and then... Then there were Andes mints... And I just got this horrible craving. To be in the Andes. And be eating mints with chocolate. And snow. And I bought them. And they're gone now. Yes. A whole package. DON'T JUDGE ME.
    I swear that's the last thing I buy for pleasure until my next paycheck. You have my word(s).

Confession Time

from aceshowbiz

Listening to Finger Snappin' by the Maynard Fergusen Octet
Trying to be a better, more successful, more organized human being
    Warning: The following post is long winded. Brace yourself.
    Here's the deal. I love concepts. And ideas, and theories, and notions. I think of lots of awesome ones all the time. Then I write them down in random lists that get stuffed in my purse or under my bed or in my desk or thrown in my car, which - let's face it - is a Dumpster with an engine and an iPod cord.
     I love concepts, but I am so bad at seeing them to fruition. Let me clarify that. I'm bad at seeing them completely to fruition. I'm great at starting things. Finishing them, not so much. Which is why I have an entire art shelf full of beads and stones for my jewelry company, string for my super-awesome macrame bracelets, paints from my ambitions to become an artist, and a bowl of shells - I really don't even know on that one.
    That's also why I frequently wake up with just enough time to jump out of bed, into whatever clothing is at hand and speeding like a madwoman to class. Every semester, I think, "Nine-thirty. That's nothing. I've made it to work at eight before plenty of times. A nine-thirty class is pie." Thing is, at the beginning of the semester I think I can eat that whole pie by myself. In fact, I get to class early a few times, eagerly devouring those first bites of sweet cherry pie morning goodness. Then I start to realize that I don't really like cherry-flavored anything. Why did I like this pie? The filling is just too sticky and sweet and it glues me to my bed, and I still have three-quarters of that stupid pie left, and did I realize how much it tasted like Robitussin when I first started eating it?
    Where was I going with this? Oh right. Finishing things.
    There are only a few things I have completely finished in my life. I know that sounds really sad, but this is going to be motivational for me, and you, my dear readerlings, are my witnesses:

• Last year, I knitted myself a matching hat and scarf set. The most I've ever made was baby booties, and I can only use a pattern once or I get bored with it and don't want to finish it the second time. This year, I knitted one for Coco Bean, who has yet to receive it.

  

  The blue hat and scarf are the ones I made. The black one on my sister is crocheted, and I didn't make it.

This is Corey's hat. The pom-pom is removable, and mostly a joke. Because I like to laugh.

• I finished learning an entire jazz piece by Vince Guaraldi - improv and all - and can now play it without pause. In the past, I would learn the parts of the pieces that were more straightforward, and say, "I'll get to the improv," but I never did. This September, I learned the whole dang thing. And yes, I am very proud of it.
• I wrote a book. No, it is not published yet, and no I haven't submitted it to be published, or queried an agent. I probably won't for a while. I'm still convinced it could be better, but that's not the point. The point is that I finished it, and even though I've been working on it for three years, I still love it as much as the first day I brain-birthed it in Anatomy my senior year of high school. Which means I'm still willing to put work into it to make it the best it can be before I send it out into the world. (See Anne Bradstreet's The Author to Her Book. Major poem love.) I even have ideas for other books, two of which I've been steadily working on, and I fully intend to finish both of them, too. 
• I wrote this super fun intermediate level piano piece that changes time signatures like mad, and bounces along in a way that always makes me smile. I guess I should've prefaced that by explaining that I've actually written quite a few piano pieces for my mom's students' recitals, but this one was one that had been marinating for quite some time, and when I finally got it out, I was actually really proud of it. The other ones were my mom saying, "Write a piece for [insert munchkin pianist here] that sounds like clouds/a hoedown/evil clowns under your bed," and I'd sigh dramatically, even though it would be easy, and write it. This one wasn't inspired by anything, and doesn't have a name. It was just me playing with a melody in my head. So I'm proud of it.

Those are the things that immediately come to mind, but there probably isn't much more, unfortunately. That being said, here are the things I want to accomplish this semester. I'm putting them here so that I'll be really embarrassed when... I mean if I don't accomplish them, which should spur me to complete them.

1. I want to be nicer to people. Smile more, and be more grateful for what people do. I try to do this anyways, but I have a temper, I'll admit, and sometimes the temper sort of vomits anger and irritation on anyone in my path. This tends to scare people off. A few of my friends at work - Tyler and Andrew - have joked with me that the reason I'm not dating anyone is because I'm not a (pardon the language) "bad enough bitch". They say I need to act like "I'm a bad bitch and I know it." But the truth is, I'm not. I'm almost always a happy person; I love to laugh and make people laugh. On that note, my laugh is super loud and dorky, I bounce around when I get excited, and I don't have a problem with that. I'm a huge dork, and proud of it. So my efforts are going to go towards being more of the fun, silly, dorky person that I think God intended for me to be and know that I'll date someone who appreciates that whenever he comes along. (I don't know how this went from be nicer to people to wait for whoever God has planned for me, but I think that means something important. So I'm leaving it.)
2. Try really hard to understand and do well in Statistics. At the beginning, things were easy and I was like, "Yeah! I'm gonna dominate this class!" And then Statistics rose like a sleeping tiger and said, "Psych! Watch me slash your butt to ribbons with my VARS claws!! Ha ha!" and the first test was a bit of a stinker. Now, math is not by any means my thing. I swear I'm a little dyslexic with numbers, although I was never diagnosed. I can't tell you how many times I miscount my drawer at work because I forget that there's a twenty-three between twenty-two and twenty-four, or I read the total as "71.36" when it's really "17.89" and the customer freaks out. And today in Stats, man my calculator and I were having some communication issues (I've got a letter for it for later on this week). 
3. I want to finish editing my book. Really badly. I have no idea if it will happen, since I have a massive amount of writing, reading, and analysis to do for my fiction writing class, but I want it to. Writing really is my passion, although I have recently accepted it is probably not how I'm going to be making bank in the future. But I do want to pursue it on the side at the very least, which I cannot do if I don't finish the thing. Getting a good draft of my next book down wouldn't be bad either, but I'll take what I can get.
4. I'd love to be on time on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, so that I can bathe and look nice, and have coffee and not want to kill myself because I haven't been awake long enough. Doing all of the readings for my American Lit class wouldn't be bad either. I do some of them, I promise, but when I was reading Walden (sorry, Thoreau) I about plucked out my eyeballs. And I need them to read the sixteen - yes, sixteen! - books that I've begun and not finished and are all piled on my dresser. So this one kind of counts as two.
5. Not complain so much at work. For the most part, I'm a pretty happy, loud, and nice person at work - I'm not going to say anything about my work ethic, because that's for others to say; this is just about attitude - but when I get in a mood, people can tell. I've been told that I complain about my problems a lot, and that I'm always down on myself (although not in a depressing way, if that makes sense - more like, ha-ha-my-life-sucks-but-I-laugh-about-it). That's not what I want, though, or what I mean to do. I don't need to unload my problems on my coworkers, or let any stupid useless emotions get the better of me, so I'm going to try very hard, and pray that I'm not a burden on anyone and that I can work with a joyful heart. Kinda goes with number four, but you get the picture.
6. I want to do better at saving my money. In the middle of this summer I had nearly enough money to move out with three roommates, but it fell through, so I ended up just spending the money (on stuff for school, mind you, but spending it nonetheless). I will be flying up to North Carolina to visit Corey over Thanksgiving (even though I'm terrified of plane flights), and I need to have money for the flight, and also money to spend while I'm there so I'm not a burden on him or anyone else. And after that, I want to look for an apartment and roommates (any takers? I'm super fun to live with *cough cough*), so I'll need moneys to move out. 
7. This one's a bit more difficult, but try not to stress so much. Whenever I get stressed, I get tense, and irritable and my immune system crashes (like this past weekend, and um, now). My back and neck get super tight, and I literally cannot relax. Even if I'm laying in bed, sleeping, my body is still stiff and tense, and I sleep so hard I'm physically sore in the morning. I've been seeing my chiropractor for the past four weeks, and - although I haven't seen her in a while - she said my spine should be realigning properly by now, and staying that way, but it's not because as soon as she finishes adjusting me and I leave, the stress sets in and I start to tense up again. I know that's not a healthy way to live, so I want to make a conscious effort to stay more relaxed and not let things get to me so much. I've only got one life to live and I can't live it wearing my shoulders as earrings. 
8. Actually post my blog posts on time. Like, choose days of the week to post and do it, gosh darn it!

Sorry for those of you who read that whole thing - there probably aren't many of you left at this point. So here's something to make you laugh, because I laugh every time I see it. :)

Pun-believeable

from Poetry_and_Sound on iconator.com

Listening to Vince Guaraldi Christmas music. I'm starting early this year, guys. I got a taste of fall last week and I am not letting go. Bring on the candy corn. 
Not sleeping because there's a full moon and that's when the werewolves come out - kidding. It's really bright and it shines in my window because my blinds were lost in a tragic jumping-on-the-bed incident a few years ago (read: last year) so I can't sleep.
    I went pun-crazy this past week, guys. "Crazy-pants," as my friend Hannah Cynthia Lane says. I had some help, of course, but my oh my did I make some jokes. Here are a few to tide you over until I get all my Letters in order (they're scattered among all my school notes).
    [When discussing my steak with my friend Johnny]

• Me: "I want my steak rare!"
• Johnny: "That rarely happens. ha ha."
• Me (this one was completely unintentional): "HA! Well done!"

    [Discussing my American Literature professor]

• "He was still barking on about Hawthorne." Get it? Because a hawthorn is a tree? Barking? Laugh, please. I beg you.

    [Background: Did you know that Ralph Waldo Emerson had a son named Waldo who died, and this death and the death of his wife were highly influential in his writing?]

• "Where's Waldo? DEAD." Sorry, that one was a little harsh, but I found it morbidly funny. 

    [This one was in a note to my friend Hayden during American Literature]

• Alright, can we be done with Hawthorne and move on to Poe?
• Professor: "Now, you read in the Poe story..."
• Yes!!
• Professor: "But when you look back at Hawthorne..."
• Quoth the professor: Nevermore.

    Side note: I'm trying to be more organized this semester, guys. I'm trying really hard. My room is all clean and pretty, and my books are all organized. I even bought a planner. I'm still trying to get my blogging schedule worked into my school-work-homework schedule, but it's going to happen, I promise! 

Midnight Vigor

from xxx_vintageglam at iconator.com

Listening to rain pattering on the leaves outside. That's right - both of my windows are wide open because this weather is fantastic.

Feeling über accomplished.

    For some absurd reason, when my family starts turning out their lights and closing their doors, I get a massive burst of energy that I cannot possibly ignore. Normally, I waste it by staying up until three a.m. doing nothing of any importance on Lucille (my laptop). But tonight, my friends, tonight I fueled the energy burst with a bottle of coke, so it was twice as bad. There was no possible way to sit still during this one. (That's what she said. Sorry, couldn't resist.) So I decided to rearrange my room.

    I twisted my hair up in chopsticks - that's when you know I mean business - and went to work. It took me roughly three hours, but my room looks great, now, and I feel so organized and mature. I couldn't help sitting down at my desk (no longer covered in clean laundry, and actually looking like I could do homework there) and thinking, "This must be what successful adults feel like when they get something big done. Like remembering to finish their load of laundry in the washing machine, or buying healthy groceries that aren't dinosaur-shaped." Even though dinosaur-shaped makes everything taste better.

    Not only are my clothes put away and my shoes off the floor, but I moved all the baby clothes my mom had been keeping in my closet downstairs. Now I have room for my own clothes. On both sides of the closet. And I organized all of my flats into my sister's old barbie doll hanging holder she'd put on the back of my closet door. Once you take out the naked and unfortunate-looking dolls, it works perfect for shoes, I swear. Greatest idea ever. A few weeks ago, I'd gotten rid of extra clothes in my closet and dresser, and folded everything nice and neat, so that's all organized. I'd cleaned out my desk, too, so all those drawers have been put to good use. (That was when I had my demon/scorpion/stalker/murderer experience. The little freak was just chilling in my shirt. Yes, in. As in the shirt on my body. It wouldn't die, either! I crushed him with a binder, one of my black flats, and a stiletto, and the thing reincarnated itself every time! I finally went at him with hairspray until he was glued to the carpet, and he was still trying to kill me even as I froze him in place. Then I plucked him from the floor with jewelry pliers and flushed him to kingdom come. Hear that, arachnids everywhere?! Come near me and I will kill you, dead!) I even found a place for most of my books. I couldn't fit them all on my bookshelf, but I got them off the floor. 

    I also realized that I am in the middle of ten different books right now - despite the fact that my little list on the sidebar only has about five or so. I'm really bad about that, reading more than one book at a time. I'm almost finished with one, though, and two of the others are story collections that I just read when I can't sleep or something. And I found three different pairs of glasses.

    I'm still really energized so I think I'll work on my book a little. I'm in the process of rewriting the beginning. Again. We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck, my lovely lit. lovers!