Word Cloud Project

I thought an apple was appropriate...

Here is the project I spent months on, concisely summarized by a word cloud that took a minute to make.

Scheduling My Defense

I have feedback from my committee for my masters project.

I'll be revising this weekend.

Currently, I'm attempting to schedule my defense. It is looking like May 4th around 4pm.

Now I just need to get papers done so that I can focus on my defense. My brain is soooooooooooo tired.

Blogging Hiatus

It's that time of the semester. It might be a while before I blog again.

Hopefully, when you hear from me again I will have an MA instead of being the loser who couldn't finish her stupid writing project.

...still no feedback. I'm getting anxious.

Be happy for the next month!

Things Are Nice

I feel pretty good about life.

1. I turned in a full draft of my project on Friday.
2. I got a hair cut to get rid of the nasty dead hair from my misadventures with hair dye over spring break.
3. I cleaned the house today. Everything smells like orange. Mmmmm.
4. Lindsey and I are frying fish for dinner.
5. It looks like I'm going to beat Chris at Scrabble.
6. I think I found the perfect place to live in Grand Junction.

The only things working against me are allergies, my cat is shedding right now, and I'm a bit behind on my tech writing project. I can't really complain. Two of those are seasonal, and the other I can get done.

Nothing can take me down now that I have a full draft of my writing project. I best be grading now though. I promised my students I would get caught up this weekend.

Reading Instead of Writing

So I keep just starting at my writing project. I set aside all homework on Thursday so that I could just finish my project and stop worrying about it. Come Friday, I had revised 7 pages and 1 new one, and I still had a lot of work today.

I need to turn this project back into a conversation I enjoy having and make it less of a nightmare where I can't find the words I want and don't know where to start. So I'm doing some quick research about Pullman's work so that I can get into some more conversation. I'm also going to reread Naomi's articles. Hopefully this works and by this evening I will be writing new material at a regular pace.

I am so ready for summer and novel writing.

Good Day, Yesterday? Yes, I Think So

So what if I didn't get a full draft of my tech comm proposal put together or actually do the reading for tech comm?

I did have a good class with my students in which one of my most hostile-seeming students said after class that it was a good and productive class. Woohoo! Yay for productive teaching.

I also was called about a tech writing job, but of course, when she asked if I was still interested, I told her I had already accepted another position. The tech writing job would have paid a lot better, and I could have at least taken an interview, but I don't have the money to be flying out to interview for jobs I don't plan to take. I don't want to ruin my relationship with CDOW, so I will work this job because I said I would.

I also discovered how AMAZING twitter is for job searching. It's not really great for all fields, but tech writing has gotten on the twitter-job-posting bandwagon, and it makes the job search amazingly easy. A lot of what is available seems to be in VA. I have family in VA. That could work.

I beat my anonymous IGoogle opponent at Scrabble. She is really good. I can't wait until that game goes into the stats. So proud.
...now if I can just beat Chris.

I also got Cheryl Klein's book Second Sight in the mail. I think it will be good for me as a maybe-future-copy-editor and also as a writer.

Things are good. Today's goal? Put everything on hold and finally finish my writing project. I am soooooooo close, and Naomi said to me on Monday, "Just get the ****ing thing done."

So Far Behind...So I'm Cooking

It's spring break. I haven't gotten enough done. I'm so far behind I was up on-and-off all night with anxiety. I decided to get up at the crack of dawn and work on my writing project.

I was awake at 5ish, thinking about what to write, feeling very motivated, but I didn't get out of bed.

It's now about noon-ish. What have I accomplished? I've played scrabble online, checked facebook, twitter, posted on my blog, read a recipe for oyster stew, made crepes and bacon for breakfast, and I have peanut butter banana bread in the oven. I haven't even opened the file for my writing project or cracked a book. I am doomed.

Monday, I have an annotated bibliography due. I have read everything for Indian children's lit, though.

Wednesday, I have a proposal due for my tech writing project (which means I need to have most of the work done on the actual project). I also need to do the reading for tech writing and Indian children's lit.

I also still haven't graded correspondence portfolios...even though I've graded all the stuff that has been handed in after those. Blergh. They are soooooooooo boring.

Spring Break Accomplishments...

I watched the first two seasons of Merlin. Season 3, I need you and have zero access. Sad.

I have graded a ton: quizzes, group graphic memos, instruction evaluations, and lego instructions.

I dyed my hair red. Then attempted to dye it dark brown. I now have an unnatural dark red hair that I am hoping fades more natural. It is satisfactory though. I'm just happy that I no longer glow in the sunlight.

I still haven't finished my project, graded correspondence portfolios or pie chart designs, done my annotated bibliography, or my project proposal.

Can I run away to Grand Junction now instead of in May?

On a random note, I love my cat.

Also...Update about Progress on Life

I applied for two jobs yesterday. I didn't like them as much as the one I applied for a week ago, but I think I did much better with the standard application process. I didn't second guess myself so much--I know what to do with a cover letter and a resume. So I applied for a position as a technical writer and another for web hosting customer support. *Fingers crossed*

My project is so close to done, but I am still just not getting it done. I think I am really beginning to scare Naomi. I'm certainly scaring myself. I'm running on the potentially not graduating edge I think. People have been more behind before, but those people's major professors weren't quite so busy. I have to give Naomi adequate time to get me feedback, and I'm putting her up against a wall--not fair. Hopefully my first draft rocks, and we can move quickly after that point.

Gaelic Storm tonight!!! It's gonna be fun, though I really don't have time. I'm also a little bummed that we're going for Chinese food beforehand instead of something more appropriatedly themed. We should be going to The Pub or something. Oh well. I've planned an Irish themed dinner potluck for Thursday. I did really want sweet potato fries from The Pub though. Sad. The Chinese food in Manhattan, KS leaves something to be desired.

Today's song of the day: The Cave by Mumford & Sons. I've been in a Mumford & Sons mood lately.