Finals be over and done with!!!
YIPPEE!!!
Woohoo!!!!!!!
What a relief!!!!!!
It's been a pretty grueling week but I think it's paid off for the most part - I hope so, anyway. Should find out sometime in the first half of June. . .
Well, this weekend is shaping up to be extremely busy. I've been invited to three grad parties and a couple of going-away type outings. All will be taking place in the space of about 36 hours. By Tuesday, every last one of my out-of-town friends will be gone. :( It's too bad but it just means that I'll have more in my inbox (and possibly even my mailbox!) this summer. :) [Wishful thinking? Maybe.] I guess you could say that keeping in touch is one of my hobbies... for the most part. At times, though, I'm really bad at it.
Anyway, let's see... looking ahead to this summer... after the early-summer-depression-of-no-regular-school-and-an-absence-of-active-social-life, I'll settle down into my Algebra course at Highland Community College and I plan to give my room as thorough a face lift as cleaning can give it. :D :D It's in desperate need of help and I can't wait to attack it and get things put away!!! It's been driving me crazy!!! Also, this summer, I plan to do lots of baking and sewing... and hopefully will follow through on a desire to read ahead in Midieval History for next year's course. Yup, yup. It's all good...
In the meantime though, I'd best hit the sack. *yawn!*
Nighty-night~
Monnie
Friday, May 27, 2005
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
"I think I can... I think I can... I think I can..."
...so said the little train that could. ;)
I think I can make it through tomorrow! :D Four written and one oral exam down; three written to go!!
Latin, Theology, English, History in the past; Cosmology/Psychology, Music, Patrology looming on the horizon.
Those summer evenings without schoolwork will sure be appreciated after this week!
More later~
Monnie
I think I can make it through tomorrow! :D Four written and one oral exam down; three written to go!!
Latin, Theology, English, History in the past; Cosmology/Psychology, Music, Patrology looming on the horizon.
Those summer evenings without schoolwork will sure be appreciated after this week!
More later~
Monnie
Sunday, May 22, 2005
How Not to Postpone a Final Exam
One year there were these 2 guys who were taking Chemistry and who did pretty well on all of the quizzes and the midterms and the labs, etc... such that going into the final they had a solid A. These two friends were so confident that the weekend before finals week (even though the Chemistry final was on Monday), they decided to go up to University of Virginia and party with some friends.
So they did this and had a great time. However, with their hangovers and everything, they overslept all day Sunday and didn't make it back to Duke until early Monday morning. Rather than taking the final then, what they did was to find Professor Bonk after the final and explain to him why they missed the final. They told him that they went up to U of VA for the weekend and had planned on returning in time to study, but that they had a flat tire on the way back and no spare. They couldn't get help for a long time and so they were late in getting back to campus.
Bonk thought this over and then agreed that they could make up the final on the following day. The 2 guys were elated and relieved.
So they studied that night and went in the next day at the time that Bonk had told them. He placed them in separate rooms and handed each of them a test booklet and told them to begin. They looked at the first problem, which was something simple about molarity and solutions and was worth 5 points. "Cool," they thought. "This is going to be easy." They did that problem and turned to the next page. They were unprepared, however, for what they saw on the next page. It said:
(95 points) Which tire?
So they did this and had a great time. However, with their hangovers and everything, they overslept all day Sunday and didn't make it back to Duke until early Monday morning. Rather than taking the final then, what they did was to find Professor Bonk after the final and explain to him why they missed the final. They told him that they went up to U of VA for the weekend and had planned on returning in time to study, but that they had a flat tire on the way back and no spare. They couldn't get help for a long time and so they were late in getting back to campus.
Bonk thought this over and then agreed that they could make up the final on the following day. The 2 guys were elated and relieved.
So they studied that night and went in the next day at the time that Bonk had told them. He placed them in separate rooms and handed each of them a test booklet and told them to begin. They looked at the first problem, which was something simple about molarity and solutions and was worth 5 points. "Cool," they thought. "This is going to be easy." They did that problem and turned to the next page. They were unprepared, however, for what they saw on the next page. It said:
(95 points) Which tire?
Thursday, May 19, 2005
"She's back... and this time, she's busy!" :P
Hello, hello...
Yes, I'm back and yes, I'm busy. :) I'm taking a brief hiatus from my studies to say hello and reassure any worried souls that I am still alive... I know, there are VERY few of you out there who were worried at all... perhaps a few might have even been relieved at the thought. :P At any rate, I just want everyone who reads this to say a prayer (or two... or three... or four...! :D) for me as my college exams start May 24. There's no conceivable way to be truly, thoroughly prepared for them all so all I can do is give them my best...
Life here continues to FLY past. It's absolutely unreal. Incredible that another year has gone by so soon. In ten days, all of my out-of-state friends (which comprises the great majority of my friends) will be going home. *sob* ...funny to think, however, that these people whom I am now so attached to didn't know me and I didn't know them a mere nine or ten months ago.
Life is funny... (not always in a humorous way). But now is not the time to consider such things. My hiatus is over and to my books I am bound to return... God bless you, one and all.
Monica
Yes, I'm back and yes, I'm busy. :) I'm taking a brief hiatus from my studies to say hello and reassure any worried souls that I am still alive... I know, there are VERY few of you out there who were worried at all... perhaps a few might have even been relieved at the thought. :P At any rate, I just want everyone who reads this to say a prayer (or two... or three... or four...! :D) for me as my college exams start May 24. There's no conceivable way to be truly, thoroughly prepared for them all so all I can do is give them my best...
Life here continues to FLY past. It's absolutely unreal. Incredible that another year has gone by so soon. In ten days, all of my out-of-state friends (which comprises the great majority of my friends) will be going home. *sob* ...funny to think, however, that these people whom I am now so attached to didn't know me and I didn't know them a mere nine or ten months ago.
Life is funny... (not always in a humorous way). But now is not the time to consider such things. My hiatus is over and to my books I am bound to return... God bless you, one and all.
Monica
Monday, May 09, 2005
My Linguistic Profile ;)
Your Linguistic Profile: |
55% General American English |
25% Dixie |
10% Yankee |
5% Midwestern |
5% Upper Midwestern |
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Words, Words, Words
Hi y'all~
I'm doing my Psychology paper this quarter on "Language." It's a very broad topic and has led me to some very interesting articles in my research. It has led me also to do a lot of thinking about it. We really take language for granted. It's an interesting thought - to me, at any rate - to consider that before books, everyone had better memories. They had to. Books came along and the need to remember everything decreased - the information could be looked up again, once forgotten. Then with the advent of the internet, the radio, the TV, memory had declined to practical non-existence. Education is a hollow word, signifying a piece of paper, meaning very little. University students today remember very little from their courses of last year. And what of the student who was studying frantically the week before finals, commenting, "I won't have to know this after next week!" What kind of an attitude is that, I ask you?!! That is not to claim that I am any better off than any other such person.
Language is the tool of communication. Words are the symbols for concepts. The average person's vocabulary today is pitifully small contrasted to that of an average person a century ago. Many words have acquired more than one meaning - for example, "hot," "cool," "sweet," "gay," even "ecumenism" - creating an ambiguity in communication. If we lose the words accurately expressing concepts, we lose also the concepts once represented by those words. What of words such as "ergophobic," meaning a fear of work, or "piscation," meaning fishing. These words, by their etymology, convey more clearly the concepts they represent than do the words and phrases we use today to signify the very same thing.
We find ourselves in a pitiable state.
Dr. David Allen White offers six steps to solve the plight of modern language:
Firstly, restore the habit of speaking directly to each other; get rid of answering machines and go to extra trouble to communicate directly and personally.
Secondly, language is easily corrupted by the use of technology. We can and should limit the use we make of the internet.
Thirdly, he suggests that public reading should be restored. It is captivating unlike any movie. It stimulates thinking, encourages a love of language, and facilitates the ability to form images on one's own.
Fourthly, beware of advertising. " In 1997, it (the advertising industry) spent an estimated $187 billion to sell us an unconscionable amount of stuff, much of it useless, environmentally destructive, and deleterious to our health."
Fifthly, we must honor local/regional businesses, discourage big business, in an attempt to preserve local dialects. We will thus preserve those parts of our culture where memory, tradition, and devotion to locality still exist, because it is there that language is most vibrant.
Finally, we must, in the schools and universities, preserve the integrity and clarity of language in every way possible. Rhetoric - the ability to speak clearly and well - should be restored to the liberal arts curriculum.
I think, above all, the main - the first - step on the way to a restoration of language is to READ. To read good literature, classic literature, works by those who had a mastery of the English language! Shakespeare, Tennyson, Milton, Chesterton. They had a fabulous command of the English language. Such works as theirs leave one far more satisfied than the shallow rubbish commonly written today.
Food for thought, is it not?
Well, I will leave you with that. If I mounted my soapbox, it was unintentional. I was merely thinking aloud. Thanks for bearing with me and I hope you agree that Language is indeed a fascinating subject!
Until next time, God love you all and Take care!
Monnie
I'm doing my Psychology paper this quarter on "Language." It's a very broad topic and has led me to some very interesting articles in my research. It has led me also to do a lot of thinking about it. We really take language for granted. It's an interesting thought - to me, at any rate - to consider that before books, everyone had better memories. They had to. Books came along and the need to remember everything decreased - the information could be looked up again, once forgotten. Then with the advent of the internet, the radio, the TV, memory had declined to practical non-existence. Education is a hollow word, signifying a piece of paper, meaning very little. University students today remember very little from their courses of last year. And what of the student who was studying frantically the week before finals, commenting, "I won't have to know this after next week!" What kind of an attitude is that, I ask you?!! That is not to claim that I am any better off than any other such person.
Language is the tool of communication. Words are the symbols for concepts. The average person's vocabulary today is pitifully small contrasted to that of an average person a century ago. Many words have acquired more than one meaning - for example, "hot," "cool," "sweet," "gay," even "ecumenism" - creating an ambiguity in communication. If we lose the words accurately expressing concepts, we lose also the concepts once represented by those words. What of words such as "ergophobic," meaning a fear of work, or "piscation," meaning fishing. These words, by their etymology, convey more clearly the concepts they represent than do the words and phrases we use today to signify the very same thing.
We find ourselves in a pitiable state.
Dr. David Allen White offers six steps to solve the plight of modern language:
Firstly, restore the habit of speaking directly to each other; get rid of answering machines and go to extra trouble to communicate directly and personally.
Secondly, language is easily corrupted by the use of technology. We can and should limit the use we make of the internet.
Thirdly, he suggests that public reading should be restored. It is captivating unlike any movie. It stimulates thinking, encourages a love of language, and facilitates the ability to form images on one's own.
Fourthly, beware of advertising. " In 1997, it (the advertising industry) spent an estimated $187 billion to sell us an unconscionable amount of stuff, much of it useless, environmentally destructive, and deleterious to our health."
Fifthly, we must honor local/regional businesses, discourage big business, in an attempt to preserve local dialects. We will thus preserve those parts of our culture where memory, tradition, and devotion to locality still exist, because it is there that language is most vibrant.
Finally, we must, in the schools and universities, preserve the integrity and clarity of language in every way possible. Rhetoric - the ability to speak clearly and well - should be restored to the liberal arts curriculum.
I think, above all, the main - the first - step on the way to a restoration of language is to READ. To read good literature, classic literature, works by those who had a mastery of the English language! Shakespeare, Tennyson, Milton, Chesterton. They had a fabulous command of the English language. Such works as theirs leave one far more satisfied than the shallow rubbish commonly written today.
Food for thought, is it not?
Well, I will leave you with that. If I mounted my soapbox, it was unintentional. I was merely thinking aloud. Thanks for bearing with me and I hope you agree that Language is indeed a fascinating subject!
Until next time, God love you all and Take care!
Monnie
Monday, May 02, 2005
'Tis May!!!
Halo, everybody!
I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Mine was NONSTOP and almost all a lot of fun!! We had friends in town from New York State, here visiting their brother/son who is in my class. We did soooo much with them in the space of two very short days. It seems almost like they were a dream that was here. I know they did come - we have photographic proof of it! ;) - but it went by so very quickly!!
Today was back to the daily grind... had English and Latin today, my shortest day of the school week. Tomorrow is my longest. :/ It's a sunny second day of May... May! It's here ALREADY!!! This has to have been the quickest school year of my life!! But since time is flying so, I must also! Off to help Rose in the kitchen...
TTFN~
Monnie
I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Mine was NONSTOP and almost all a lot of fun!! We had friends in town from New York State, here visiting their brother/son who is in my class. We did soooo much with them in the space of two very short days. It seems almost like they were a dream that was here. I know they did come - we have photographic proof of it! ;) - but it went by so very quickly!!
Today was back to the daily grind... had English and Latin today, my shortest day of the school week. Tomorrow is my longest. :/ It's a sunny second day of May... May! It's here ALREADY!!! This has to have been the quickest school year of my life!! But since time is flying so, I must also! Off to help Rose in the kitchen...
TTFN~
Monnie
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