Snow

Well, so much for being finished with exams on Friday.... We've had quite a lot of snow here in the last 12 hours, and the university is closed for the rest of the week. (We closed at 1 today, and we'll be closed tomorrow.) This means that tomorrow's exam gets moved to Monday. While part of me is glad because I get a few more days to study, I was also looking forward to being finished and being able to spend the entire weekend vegging our with the Gilmore Girls....

Uno Mas....

Two exams down, one to go. The 19th Century American Literature section was on Monday, and it went fairly well. The 20th Century American Literature section was today, and it also went well, save that I would have liked another 30-45 minutes beyond the allotted time. I felt a little rushed on the last question, so my answer wasn't as thorough and as detailed as I would have liked it to be. I guess I'll just hope that that doesn't count too much against me. My Victorian Literature exam is on Friday; I took a practice exam for that field a few weeks ago, so mostly I just need to review key dates, major themes, and character names and I should be fine (unless the professor really throws me a curve ball)....

Back to books....

"her brain suddenly overloads...she becomes frantically and absurdly deranged"

Exam week....

One of my feminist friends sent me a video clip titled "Women: Know Your Limits". Though it certainly shouldn't be taken seriously, I found it to be quite funny. Though I certainly hope that "over-education" doesn't lead "to ugliness, premature aging, and beard growth." However, given all of my recent studying for exams, I do feel that my brain is a bit overloaded....

Studying....

Just a quick little blog today....

I went homehome over Thanksgiving break, which explains why my poor little blog was neglected during the past week. (I had a very nice time at homehome. I got to see most of the family, and I even managed to get some studying done too.)

I've spent most of today studying for my exams. They start tomorrow (one Monday, one Wednesday, and one on Friday). Thus, my little blog will probably be neglected for another week....

Portfolio Day

Today was the dreaded portfolio reading day in the department.... However, the day wasn't as miserable as usual. We started at 9 (which is early for me), but my reading group managed to be finished before 2 (some years we've been there as late as 5). All of the members of the reading group were present, which always makes things go more smoothly and quickly. In addition to a nice, smooth portfolio reading, all of my students passed. YAY!! (It makes me, as the teacher, feel good when all of my students pass!)

Now that their portfolio exams are over, I need to focus on my own exams again....

Is it the weekend yet?

Today was a very crazy day, and I'm tired. I worked this morning, and that was total chaos. Every appointment slot was booked, the phone rang nearly non-stop, e-mails were pouring in, we had to start turning people away, and, to top things off, the printer ran out of paper. I was very, very glad that one of our receptionists made a mistake today and came to work 45 minutes early. Otherwise things would have been even more chaotic....

After a crazy morning, I spent most of the afternoon studying. I met with one of my professors to discuss my exams, and then I met with another grad student who will be taking his exams the same week I'll be taking mine and we spent nearly 3 hours studying and just talking through the materials. I hadn't really talked things through with anyone, so those hours were well spent since talking through things really helps me to learn them.

I had another meeting this evening. Hot tea and bagels were involved.

Now I'm going to put myself to bed so I can get up earlier than usual tomorrow and read freshman composition portfolios all day.

Pink Nails

I have pink fingernails today, very pink fingernails.... I went to the latest Wedding Decisions bridal show (their shows are free, large enough to provide variety among the vendors, and yet small enough that I don't feel overwhelmed by the crowds--oh, and they have good prizes too!) and I won a Mary Kay gift basket with several different bottles of nail polish and all sorts of other stuff. (Including more make-up than I've had in my possession the last half a dozen years.) Since my nails have been looking nice during the past few days, I decided to paint them. I picked the brightest bottle from the basket, and now I have very pink nails. (The only other way I can describe the 'very pink' nature of my nails would be to say that there's pretty close to the color of Pepto-bismol.) The pink's kinda fun (and one of my students even noticed the pink and commented on how it makes my hands look very petite), but I don't know how long I'll keep it before I go back to something that's a little more 'me.'

The Onion

I don't read The Onion all that often. However, I do browse through their articles whenever I spot an interesting headline on my yahoo! news and links page. Here's one I thought I would share: "English Teacher On First Date In Ages Lets Dangling Modifier Slide."

No Homework Friday

I declared today a no homework day. I've had a busy week, and I've been studying and working a lot lately. I took a practice exam for one of my field exams yesterday, and that was a little stressful. I think I did okay overall, but I know there were a few weak spots and that I still have quite a bit of studying to do. I have an oral practice exam for another of my fields on Tuesday, so I have more studying to do. My real exams are scheduled for the week after Thanksgiving, so I need to put in a lot of study time in the next two weeks.

Despite all of the studying that I need to do, I decided to declare today a no homework day. Today's been my day to relax. I did a bit of shopping this afternoon; I got a new pair of shoes. (I think I'd forgotten how therapeutic shoe shopping can be.) Jimmy took me out for supper tonight (Thai food), the then we went to a game night and ping-pong tournament at church. I got eliminated in the second round, which wasn't too bad considering that the competition level was a bit higher than I'm accustomed to. We also played some other games too -- Nerts, Crazy Uno, and Apples to Apples. Now I'm going to relax and enjoy the rest of my evening, as the homework starts again tomorrow.

On Homework....

My students have papers that are due tomorrow. I'm spending my evening studying for exams. The little comic seems applicable....

Wow, Monday Already....

I haven't blogged since Tuesday; I don't know where the past week went.... I spent most of the weekend working. I spent Friday studying for exams, and I spent Sunday grading papers. I didn't get much real work done on Saturday, but I did get a new pair of tennis shoes (which I needed because my old ones had no traction left and I'm playing intramural volleyball), some new knitting needles, and an assortment of cool yarns. I started on a new hat and scarf set for myself; I should probably be spending my time working on school stuff, but sometimes I'd just rather be knitting....