Hello 2011

New Years Eve

With it being New Year’s Eve, most of you are contemplating what your New Year’s resolutions should be. Weight loss was so last year and giving up that bad habit was attempted two years ago, which brings me to my topic for today—to do lists. The term “resolution” is basically a fancy way to say “to do list,” which most people make, but do they stick to them?

When I make a to-do list, I feel very accomplished and setting high goals for myself. There is something appealing about crossing something off a list. And it works for about a day. Then other things get in the way like your mom wanting to go shopping for just a few hours and it turns into all day or talking on the phone with a friend or, my biggest weakness this week, a My Fair Wedding with David Tuterra marathon on WE.

I thought I could beat the cycle by writing my to-do list by putting it on pretty pink paper; bright pink, so it cannot be ignored. Then, just to make sure it cannot go unnoticed, I put it on the only piece of white wall in my room. Bright pink on white should be as shocking as caution tape.

The next thing I did after making my to-do list and hanging it up was work my butt off that day to cross three things off the list. Yep, only three things out of about twenty five. So, after that little exercise, the to-do list, though still hanging in the bright spot, is put away.

Then, over the next week when I am trying to forget about the to-do list, things get added to it. Slowly but surely, those three things that were crossed off basically mean nothing because there are six new items on the to-do list. The to-do list starts to grow and grow and so, you cross off things that aren’t so important and can be saved for another day.

The final kiss of death for the to-do list is when you start doing extra projects, just not to do the things on the to-do list. I usually start baking enough cupcakes or cookies for a small army or my two brothers and their friends. Finally, the to-do list goes in the garbage, never to be attempted again. Well, until the next week when making a to-do list seems like a good idea.
   
Here is some advice for 2011…make resolutions and to-do lists short, sweet and to the point. I know, it sounds cliché, but setting a plethora of unachievable goals is unrealistic. Make one or two goals and stick to them. And have a Happy New Year’s.

Procrastisanta

It is Christmas Eve and that could only mean one thing—if you don’t have your gifts already, not even Santa can help you. Over the last few weeks, I have noticed a few different types of shoppers and I feel like these brave men and women need homage (a little disclaimer, if your shopping habits sound very familiar, then I probably am talking about you):

The Over-Achiever: This is the shopper who has everything purchased by Halloween, wrapped before Thanksgiving, and shipped out two weeks before Christmas. Most people want to be the over-achiever, but there are pros and cons to being the over-achieving shopper. The pro is, yes, you have everything done and there is no beating people off with a stick to get the last Candyland game at Walmart for $4. However, the over-achiever misses out on all the Black Friday and afterwards deals that make Candyland $4 instead of $10, thus the over-achiever spends more money in the long run.

Black Fridayers: This is the shopper who wakes up at 2am with their clothes already laid out and have probably trampled someone for a Tickle Me Elmo. The Black Fridayer has gusto. He or she has practically memorized the deals offered at different stores and can plan and attack with only 2 hours of sleep. There are pros and cons to Black Firdayers. The pro is that he or she gets really good deals on gifts, before they all disappear to other shoppers. The con is who really wants to wake up early after eating all that food from Thanksgiving?

The Amazing Amazon Shopper: This is the shopper who gets all the deals from Black Friday and Cyber Monday sent to their e-mail. All the Amazon shopper has to do is click on a few buttons and everything is shipped, usually for free because of the deals. Pro to being an Amazon shopper: no waking up early and being able to shop in your pajamas while cradling your morning coffee. Con: Shipping is always a tricking thing and you never know when your stuff will arrive. Hopefully, they will be on time. There is only so many times you can click on the “Track Package” button and see your package is stranded in California for six days.

Last Minute Procrastinators: It’s a few days before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature is stirring because they are all out shopping. These are the shoppers who go shopping a few days before Christmas, the closer to Christmas Eve, the better. Pro: There are still last minute deals with stores. Con: A lot of the gifts you may want are bought out already, especially if they are popular.

The Santa Clauses: These shoppers I have not heard of until this year, but my friend assured me that her friend’s dad does it every year. The few stores that stay open the night before Christmas actually get shoppers, these Santa Clauses. They go to the store on Christmas Eve, get everything wrapped there and are back in time for the 6am wake up time for the kids. Pro: Stores are usually empty on Christmas Eve because everyone is sleeping. Con: Only a few select stores are open and everything you need might not be available at the one store that is open. Also, you become “that guy” when all the employees at the store just want to close down and go home and spend time with their families and you are silently debating which blender your significant other really wanted.

The What About Next Year? Shopper: These are the never-tiring Christmas shoppers who are already shopping for next year’s Christmas on December 26^th. Yep, these people exist but they are like unicorns. Pro: Getting the post-Christmas deals that are practically dirt cheap. Con: How are you going to hide Christmas presents for a whole year?

            Pick and choose which shopper you are, because time is running out and whether you have presents under the tree or not right now is probably a tell-tale sign of what kind of shopper you are.

Please Leave

So, I am pretty busy during the year with being a full time student with two jobs. Pretty much everyone else is too, unless as my friend says, when you're unemployed, then weekends are meaningless. The last two weeks have been hectic between handing in papers, mysterious last minute projects that were never on the syllabus but show up anyways, and FINALS. Now, pretty much all that stuff is over for most people and laziness has become a welcomed stranger for the last few days. However, winter break seems to have a schedule that occurs every year that never fails on my part. It goes a little something like this:

Last day of classes- New Years: Fun! Fun! Fun! Celebrating holidays, shopping the last minute sales, seeing people you haven't seen in forever, sleeping in, drinking, decorating for Christmas, talking with friends you already miss from school, drinking, kicking yourself over those things you left at school but not really needing them yet, reading that book you never really got to over the semester, watching channels that your school in the middle of Bumfuck, New Hampshire doesn't have because it has 7 ESPNs but no WE or Food Network to speak of, drinking, etc.

January 2-January 5- Okay, kind of recovering from all that fun and/or alcohol

January 6-January 9- Things are kind of getting a little boring now...

January 9- 12- Things are DEFINITELY getting boring....

January 13-January 15- How many days till school?

January 16-January 17- Why did I ever leave those things at school?

January 18- Repeat stressful semester all over again.

This year, I feel like winter break has accelerated in the 3 days I have been out of school. Probably because I do actually have things to do this winter break, like potty training Romeo, completing my resume, applying to jobs, preparing for the English comp exam, reading the English comp book...Things that were on the back of my To Do list during the semester and now have come back to bite me in the butt. It's like having those unwelcomed guests at your Christmas party that are kind of bringing the party down but you don't want to make things awkward and ask them to leave. Try telling a book, "Um...hi...you're kind of bringing down the party. Do you mind leaving? No, please go out the back way, you've made this bad enough." I'm pretty sure the book will just stare blankly at you, maybe fall off the desk and barely escape getting eaten by your 8 month old puppy who is still going through "that phase" where everything in reaching distance is food.

Work you are bringing the party down. Please leave. Okay, thanks.

Until then, I will be procrastinating thoroughly. Let's just say, my family's large piles of laundry that were in the basement a few days ago are all clean and nicely folded.

Until next time...

The Year Without A Snowstorm

            Since its December 10^th, I think it is safe to say that it is now Christmastime. My tree at school has been set up since Thanksgiving and my tree at home has yet to see the light of day. Christmas carols are floating through the air, accompanied by the scents of baked goods, pine needles and excitement. Plus, I’m pretty sure “One More Sleep Till Christmas” from the Muppet’s Christmas Carol has been dancing through my head way more than sugar plums.

            The only downer to the Christmas season must be finals, right? Wrong. Well, maybe half right. Isn’t it bad enough that all final projects are due this week, papers keep resurfacing, teachers and students battle between who will tire out first and you just wanting to curl up by the Yule Log dvd with a candy cane? But I’m not talking about the finals. I’m talking about what is expected this time of year—snow days.

            In the past three years, there has been at least one snow day, before Christmas break, when the finals craze is going on. My college is in New Hampshire. New Hampshire and snow go hand and hand. Whenever someone hears about New Hampshire, they associate it with cold New England weather, Canadian geese and snow (Maybe throw a moose in there for good luck, even though I’ve never seen one). It’s been raining. It’s been cold. I know I don’t do well in science, but doesn’t that make snow?

            Currently, as I write this, my igoogle account is switching between 3º and 10º, because it simply cannot make up its mind, meaning one thing and one thing only—it is too cold to snow.

            Now, I don’t think the weather knows this or not, but Tis the Season for Finals. And stress. And titanic workloads. And people just wanting a break. And I’m a senior and this is my last fall break, not to mention, my last few snow days ever. Would it kill the weather for a few, or thousands, of snow flakes to come this way? Just have one little nice day off where people can catch up on their work, stay in their pajamas all day, drink some hot cocoa and watch Disney movies with their friends?

            Please?

            Well, at least I have the 3º and/or 10º to welcome me as I march off to my last day of classes for fall semester.

            Until next time…unless I freeze to death.

           

Professors and the Such

I feel it is necessary to insert a disclaimer here: This view does not apply to every teacher and/or professor, just some of the ones I have observed. That means the number of relatives and friends who are currently reading this blog and are teachers, future teachers or professors, remember that this probably does not apply to you. No kicking my butt, okay?

Anyways, on to my original topic. Do you ever have that gut-wrenching, heart twisting, head stinging moment when a professor or teacher says, “Let’s do something fun”? And you look around the classroom and everyone in the class seems to be in as much pain as you are.

           

“Fun” is not the word usually associated with education, unless the student is learning something he or she wants to learn. When I took my first creative writing classes in high school, I was having fun. The word “fun,” however, usually pops up in the required classes. The professor’s smile grows wide and, the wider it is, the more likely it is that you are not going to have any fun. I will now demonstrate the difference between “good fun” and “bad fun.”

Bad Fun

One of my professors was out of town last week and decided it would be “fun” to go on an online chat room and still hold class. Unfortunately, such professor did not pay attention to the details because, at last, the chat room the professor chose only allowed 10 people to chat at a time. Since there are 15 people in the class and I was the 12^th to log on, it wasn’t “fun” for me to huddle on my roommate’s bed with three other people, all trying to join in on the chat on one tiny computer. This little demonstration of “fun” was not successful, yet my teacher still wanted us to perform the online chat for another two classes, even though only 75% of the class can actually chat.

Good Fun

One of my professors, who I must admit I’m a little biased towards because it’s impossible not to love her, had the whole class come in an hour early so we could watch the entirety of a movie associated with our class (about women). I might have groaned a little bit from the idea of sitting in class for an extra hour. I already have 2 two hour classes in my life; I don’t want to have to do extra work. A few of us in the class showed up at the designated time and were enthralled with the movie by the time 2:00, the registered class time, started. This event was actually fun, probably because this professor didn’t say the actual words “this is going to be fun.” She asked us if we were interested in seeing the movie then asked our feedback afterwords, which I truly appreciated. At the college-level, you are adults paying for an education. Your input seems like it should be noticed when it comes to what you want to learn.

So, let’s recap—bad fun is when the professor actually tells the class “this will be fun” and then doesn’t ask if it was actually fun for you or not. Actual fun is when the professor asks the students’ input before and after the activity and doesn’t actually say, “this will be fun.”

Until next time.