Insomniac's blog

Well people I am officially back in school at GVSU! Yeaaah *Pop Tart squeal*. Yes, I am geeked this semester. As of today I have visited all of my scheduled classes and I can say that I do believe I am going to have a fantabulous semester. I have my final semester of Russian foreign language. I am a little bummed that it only meets an hour at a time though. We actually have to do our labs on our own this year in the language lab in Mac on the Allendale campus. That kinda sucks because I really found group labs much more helpful. Anyhow, it is good to be on the last stretch of my foreign language requirement.

My other class is the WWII history documentary. It is going to be a labor intensive class, but that doesn't scare me. There are four instructors for this class which is going to be interesting because they were already stepping on each other's toes on Monday. There are only about fifteen people in the class and most of us seem pretty focused and hard-working. Oh, and a good portion of the class smokes, which is unusual. Anyhow, so on Monday night we went out on break from class and one of the guys in the class was already saying stuff like, "I hope it isn't going to be as much work as they are making it out to be". I was like, man, it is a documentary. We have to do oral history interviews. We have to understand quite extensively the war in the Pacific theatre. What the hell kind of workload were you expecting? Sheesh...he is a butt freckle. And, the class is mostly group work...a collective effort. So I am almost certain, knowing my Murphy's luck, I will get butt freckle in my group. Oh well. We'll see what happens. Overall it sounds like it will be a good and fun class with a lot of potential for learning new and interesting things about not only WWII but also about the social impact of the war here in the U.S.

My last class is Educational Psych. Oh, I am so pleased with this class already! I had one absolutely fantastically horrible psych class so this one is like a breath of the proverbial fresh air. The prof is new to GVSU. He taught at Indiana University for awhile though, so he is not new to the profession. He is hilarious, entertaining, and not in the least PhD-ish. He seems like the type of prof who would have the end of the semester get together at the local bar/pub. And, this is the best part, he has a strong academic background in English, specifically poetry and fictional literature and its effects on cognition. Oh yes, I am impressed.

So this semester has officially been declared the Nita Semester. My classes are perfect and all my profs are fantabulous. I have waited a long time for a semester like this. I will be immersed in some really interesting topics and discussions and I think I may just have to invest in a smoking jacket so I fit into the whole intellectual aristocrat image I have of myself for this semester. Perhaps I shall take up pipe smoking instead of cigarettes? No, not THAT kind of pipe. Sheesh. Anyhow, I am truly pleased.

Well people, tonight was a stellar night in the wonderful world of Nita. Darling Husband and I decided to celebrate anniversary numeral XI with a trip to the old GVSU to watch the opening football game of the season. Now normally I am not a football fan. I tolerate it because Darling Husband enjoys it and I want to try to be engaged in at least part of his obsession. Anyhow, what a riotous good time we had! GVSU played Ferris State and beat them 30 to 10. Darling Husband even caught a GVSU football T-shirt that one of the cheerleaders threw into the stands. Before the game, Darling and I ate free hot dogs provided by my generous tuition dollars and then we bought pizza at Kleiner Commons because Darling was still hungry.

We left the progeny times three with Darling's father for the evening. Well, needless to say, I came home to a mess of a house. But, tomorrow is house community member  clean-up day and I am hoping to have it clean by 3pm. At least Grampa remembered to feed them and actually put them in bed to sleep rather than letting them sleep on the floor in front of the television.

Anyhow, like I said, Darling and I have been married now for 11 long years. It has been one hell of a ride too. We are very different from each other...personality-wise, politically, intellectually, and in our interests, but somehow we have managed to make it thus far. Even though we are very mismatched in a lot of ways, I must admit that he is a fantastic man. Even when he is at his most irritating, I still remember all the times he has put me above himself. I can trust him implicitly. I always have faith in him. He is a wonderful father. You know, some people think love is some grand romantic notion, but romantic love doesn't keep you married. It is the day-to-day kind of love that keeps a marriage going. It is the ability to be yourself, be comfortable with knowing that that one person loves even when you are puking on their shoes. It is that kind of love that always wants what is best for the other person, even when you want something yourself. I think we have that kind of love. That is why we have made it 11 years and hopefully, with heaven's kind blessings, we will make it many more.

Since I am out of school I have decided that life is sufficiently dull. That is why the lack of postings on the insomniac's blog. However, I do want to maintain my two person readership so I will give you two an update on the wonderful world of Nita.

Today I had an eye doctor's appointment. I had to have a diabetic retinopathy exam, which in normal people talk means I had to have my eyeballs dilated to see if my diabetes has made the blood vessels in the back of my eyes explode yet. Nope, no exploding eye vessels so no impending blindness for me. Anyhow, the doc put these awful cold little drops in my eyes to dilate them. By the way, I got the el grande hottie of an eye doctor and it is damn hard to flirt when your eyeballs are freaking out and tears are dripping from the eyesockets, but I did give it the ole Nita try. Sorry to say I wasn't too successful. Anyhow, after the exam I headed over to my coffee shop, the Buzz. I had a free drink coming so I ordered one of those foo-foo types of drinks which I normally stay away from...too much sugar and I can never order them right. I have been going there long enough though that the drink-slingers don't mind my bungling attempts to order. It was a good concoction of espresso, caramel and chocolate syrups, and some other addictive coffee chemicals. Mmmmm, caffeinated goodness.

After that I decided to visit the eyebrow waxing Nazi again. I figured that since my eyes and the skin around them were numb from the drops el grande hottie eye doc gave me, I might as well take advantage of it and get my eyebrows ripped off too. Well, the Nazi tried her best to inflict pain upon me, but to no avail! Hah, little did she realize I was immune to the pain. Oh, and my eyebrows look red hot sexy.

Other than that, I am just trying to avoid Redneck Neighbor today. When I arrived home this morning he asked me for a favor. Apparently he wants to take the gnarly-toothed wife and ugly filthy kids to Chicago for the weekend. Redneck Neighbor wanted me to book him tickets online on Amtrak and asked if I could use my credit card and he would just pay me. HAH! Whatever Redneck...like I am going to use my credit card for your weekend of fun. Plus I don't want to be linked to the Redneck and his brood via my bank account. Ughhh, gotta love Rednecks.

I did visit my friend Dr. Muscles on campus at GVSU Wednesday. Good gawd, the man should not be allowed to show those pipes in public. I almost tripped down the steps while walking next to him. I had to keep reminding myself..."Eyes forward Nita". Anyhow, we had ice cream and chit-chatted for awhile. Two hours goes by fast when in good company. Also, it was nice to get away from my own progeny for a spell. I can't wait for classes to start. I have some fun ones for the fall semester and I am looking forward to seeing a few people who were gone for the summer.

Well, that is about it in the wonderful world of Nita. I'm going to hang out in the house today with my sunglasses on until my pupils are back to non-stoner size and then maybe take the troops for a stroll. Monday classes start and I will be back to the ole grind. Yeehaw and Woohoo.

Tonight I finally emptied the backpack. I have had this current pack for the last two years, which is amazing because one normally only last about a semester or two. I have an attachment to this current 'pack. It carries all the essentials for me...which tonight I found out consisted of about five tubes of lipstick, lip gloss, a comb, maxi-pads, an assortment of paper clips, about 500 individual staples, individual postie notes, receipts for coffee runs, and about 200 bunched up napkins from GVSU dining. Along with all the interesting essential stuff listed above, I have two binders, a coupla folders, and an abundance of black ink pens and pencils.

So anyhow, I was emptying out all the old notes and handouts and such from the 'pack and I was trying to determine which ones were worth keeping and which ones would become land-fill fodder. I stumbled upon a few interesting notes from the class-from-hell. These caught my attention because my handwriting was intermixed with another's handwriting. These were the oh-gawd-I'm-so-bored notes a comrade and I passed in the class-from-hell. I know, I know. How juvenile, but you had to understand how horribly boring and terribly mind-numbing this class was. Anyhow, one in particular caught my eye. We were discussing the antics of a few of our classmates. One in particular liked to make comments ALL the time about her life and her experiences. Too many times her comments were a little off color and way too personal to be shared in a group of about forty strangers. Another classmate liked to make sarcastic little comments from time to time, but at least he was funny. Then there was the one classmate who felt a deep need to dump her emotional problems out in class. Ugghhhh people. I know all my fellow GVSUers have had people like this in classes before, but when you get over two in one class, well, that is just plain bad.

I was getting a bit nostalgic while going through the 'pack. I remembered interesting discussions with my indy study prof and had scribbled down a few of what I thought were important points. I also kept every article he gave me since you never know when one of those articles could be used again. I also had some things saved from Rob's class that I thought may be particularly helpful later on in my teaching career. That is one thing I have regretted about past classes, I always just dumped everything indiscriminately. About a year ago I decided to actually go through things before dumping them. I now have a small (but growing) collection of notes, articles, and sticky notes with names of authors and titles of books to check out.

The 'pack has been purged and I am ready for another new semester of classes. I am glad I had three fantabulous courses this summer and I hope that the fall semester provides me with more materials for my collection.

Anyone out there love pretty little soft cuddly kitties? My Ma has four of them...available to a good home. They are absolutely adorable, and from me that is saying a lot, since I HATE cats. Two are grey, white, and soft orange and the other two are white and pale orange. One of them has six toes on both of the front paws! If you are interested, post me a comment with your email and I will get back to you. M, are you capable of taking another sweet little fur-puff in? Rob, your Aidan could sure use a pet... Becky, wouldn't a cute little kitty make that apartment seem so much more like home? Raye, every little girl needs a pretty pussy-cat to pamper. Oh, and all of you can name your new kitty after me, I won't be offended. Hee hee.

You know you've been busy when you don't have the time to keep up your blog. I'll take the time now to update my two faithful readers on what has been happening in the wonderful world of Anita...

Last week was finals week at the ole GVSU. Things went fairly well. I finished all the assorted busy work assignments for the class from hell. I think I did okay in that class. I have one last assignment that is waiting to be graded, but even if I lose a third of the points on that project, I can still get a 78%. Not too bad. At least I won't have to retake it. I don't think my educational ego could take that.

My indy study went amazingly well. I haven't had an indy study since high school (which was just waaayyyy too long ago!) and I wasn't sure what to expect. Overall the content was good and I know I learned a significant amount. The final paper was a little harder than what I had expected. I had to write a historiographical essay and I got a little caught up on what that meant exactly. Anyhow, I got it done and I think I did the paper right. Too bad GVSU doesn't let us take more than 3 credits as an indy study because there is another history class that I would love to take as an indy study.

On the non-educational front I received some good news. On Friday I had to go to the doctor's for a check up and to get the results from my blood work. --PAUSE-- Well, that was exciting...my son just hosed the laptop and me down with cold water from the garden hose. I think the computer is still operational though. Kids, ughhh.--PAUSE OFF-- So anyhow, the doctor told me that I have lost just over 50 pounds since April of 2004! Woohoo and yeehaw! Plus, all of my blood work was pretty good. I can finally say that I am on the road to healthiness!

On Friday, after I got out of the doctor's office, I decided to celebrate the weight loss with a little shopping. Now mind you, unless it is for purses I usually do not like shopping. I abhor trying on clothes in those stuffy little and way too bright dressing rooms, but I took the plunge anyway. Well I am sure glad I did. I ended up getting a new pair of tenny shoes, two new brooches, a khaki colored shell, and a really awesome black corduroy blazer with just a little bit if stretch in it so it doesn't pull when I flex my manlike shoulders. Spiffy, huh?

Today wonderful husband took me out for lunch to celebrate the end of summer classes. Nothing fancy, we just split an appetizer at Applebee's and then I sucked down a Tom Collins. Mmmmm. I had only one drink but I ended up with a pretty good buzz from it. Oh come on...I think it was the third drink I had in the last year so I am highly susceptible to any alcohol. But it felt great to come home afterwards and not have any schoolwork or readings to do.

Well, that is about it in the life of Anita. In two more weeks school restarts so I will have many more things to comment on then. Enjoy your summer break, fellow GVSUers, I know I will.

Yes, my fellow GVSUers...the summer classes are almost done. Woohoo! I've just finished writing my project from hell paper for the class from hell. Now my brain hurts. No, I do not have a headache...my brain actually physically hurts. I took some ibuprofen and I hope it kicks in soon. I am surprisingly happy though. I knew once I finished writing the paper on the project from hell for the class from hell, I will be almost done with the class. You have no idea how happy that makes me. Plus, darling husband took precious children with him and left me alone for the last few hours to write the paper on the project from hell. Even though it is written (long-hand form) it still has to be typed. Since I lack the proper program to incorporate the graphs that I need for the paper, I have to spend a leisurely Sunday cooped up in Henry Hall desperately trying to figure out how to put an Excel graph in a Word document. Damn computers. I am still a techno-peasant.

After tomorrow I just have one test and a short presentation to do for the class from hell. The test are those damn bubble sheet multiple choice kind which irk the betsies out of me. The presentation is just a 3-4 minute ramble about the project from hell. No big deal. I do believe that after I leave the class from hell on Wednesday, myself and a few of my fellow sufferers are going to go out for lunch and perhaps a coupla choice beverages. Believe me, after Wednesday I will most definitely be in beverages mode.

Going to school fulltime in the summer months has been difficult but I am so glad I did it. When I finally do get my checkout card (the BA degree) from GVSU I will be able to teach history and English (hey Becky, I listed history first this time!). Being a double major is going to be hard because I have a few more classes to take than what I usually do in a semester, but I did not want to chose between teaching history or English. I really do love both subjects and I think they intertwine wonderfully. Anyhow, my brain is beginning to feel a bit better so I think I will wander outside and enjoy a little sunshine. I haven't seen much of it this summer with me being in classes all the time.

Found this little online test that I thought was rather profound. Try it out if you are feeling a little liberal today...

I need to step away from the tie-dye. I smell too good to be a hippie and my dad is probably a cop. Being a hippie is not a fashion craze, man. It was a way of life, in the 60’s, man. ">Hippie Test

BTW, I scored a 43%.

Well y'all, it is officially crunch time. That's right...the end of classes is drawing near. Woo hoo and yeehaw! So, for the next week I will be in fight mode. What does that mean? Well, it means that Anita will get off her lazy arse and really start applying herself. Going to school full-time in the summer has been, shall I say, an experience of extreme proportions. In other words, ughhhhh...

My indy study has gone rather well. The readings that were chosen for me have been interesting and even at times a little amusing. I can say that I learned things that I did not know. I also now know that Urban history is not something I am too interested in. I think a study of rural history would be kinda cool though. Maybe look at the way in which farming and small town life has changed along with the technical advances in agriculture and in industrialism. Also, it would be interesting to understand how different being a rural mid-westerner is from being a rural Southerner or Easterner. Hmmm. Anyhow, I do know that urban history has some interesting aspects about it. I enjoy reading about how people functioned in cities and about how they lived their day-to-day lives. However, I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more first-hand accounts of city dwellers and how they navigated themselves about the city.

My other class, the class from hell, has been the most pitiful waste of my tuition dollars as of yet. I spent about the last half-hour calculating the bare minimum that I can get to scrape by with a C. That is horrible of me and I know it, but I can comfort myself in the fact that I am not alone. There are so many areas that this child psych class could have been good, but the prof just plain sucked. Plus, on her outline she is very detailed about her point system, yet when I checked my grades online, the points were all messed up. Things that should have been worth 10 points were now only worth 3. And yes, I did read the online grades right. It is confusing as all get out. As near as I can figure I may be scraping by with anywhere from a 73%-76%. Yes, the nail-biting has started. I have only gotten I think three C's so far and one was in a Logic class, which I suck at and I know I earned that grade; another in some sort of science class, I think it was astronomy, again I suck at that too; and the final C was in Renaissance Lit in a summer class. I did learn a lot in the Renaissance Lit class but man, I worked my rear off for that C. Plus, I was working full time and had one kid then so I don't feel bad about that C.

Anyhow, for the next week I will be busy trying to finish up my psych project, which I basically have to rock on in order to get better than a C, and then I will do something fun...write my historiographical essay for urban history. No, I was not joking, writing that short essay will be fun. My fabulous prof did the whole urban history readings theme free so this whole paper is my own bile on the page rather than a regurgitation of whatever he has said. Plus, I do love history and my mind seems to comprehend it better than many other things, so writing this essay will be a fun mental exercise for me. So that is it...busy, busy, busy for the next week then I get some amazing free time. Of course in my free time I have lit books to read, a research paper to revise, history books and articles I would like to read, World War II readings to do in order to prepare for a fall class, and perhaps maybe a little lounging by the poolside. Ahhhh, the sweet life.

This is a question that I have been thinking about a lot lately. One of the postings that I had to do in English 311 for Dr. Rob was on how I would run my literature classroom. I think this is a constructive question for any pre-service teacher, regardless of discipline.

In my imaginary perfect world where I would have control of every aspect of my history class, I would focus less on dates and names and more on concepts and theories in history. The internet can be used to easily find what happened in American history in 1909, but the question of how did what happened in 1909 effect the rest of the century is a question that most pupils can not answer. In order to answer such questions, history needs to be more broad focused than on a certain person or a certain date. Also, I would focus less on the "Big" people in American history and spend more time on history from the "bottom up". By the time most pupils reach high school they should have some basic understanding of who George Washington was and what resulted from the American Revolution. What I would like my pupils to think about is how did the normal, everyday people respond to these big events in American history.

In order to cultivate this type of learning, my classroom would have to be discussion based with an emphasis on interpretation rather than right or wrong answers. History, like literature, can be interpretated in many ways by many different people. In order to facilitate this sort of discussion I would want to focus on primary documents rather than on textbooks. Textbooks, unfortunately, are often date and "big" people focused rather than on concepts. Therefore, if primary documents are assigned to be read then the pupils can come up with their own ideas about history. My job as a teacher will be to provide some sort of a framework for pupils to shape their ideas around.

Now, having said all that, I realize that I do not live in my imaginary perfect world. Instead I will be teaching under a proscribed curriculum with other teachers who may or may not appreciate my sentiments on teaching history. In order to function to the best of my abilities in the real world, I may have to tweak some of my ideas on teaching. Yet, I do hope I have a little bit of academic freedom so I can take history to a level of interest and understanding for my future pupils.