Warning: Ramble Alert
Is it just me, or is blogging starting to go the way of the dodo? Where do dodos go anyway? I don't know why a lot of people use that expression. It's up there with healthy horses and fit fiddles in terms of metaphoric mysteries.
Well, fall term is past. It lived up to its epic billing all the way to the end. I don't know how I would've been able to survive without leaning on the everlasting arms of my Lord Jesus Christ. He is forever faithful, and just when I think I've hit the breakdown point and teetering on the verge of collapse, He gives me that last surge of energy to finish the work He began in me. That's just like our God, though. He never starts something that He won't finish.
Environmental Science class...the one and only class in which I had an actual written exam (not to worry; I had plenty to do for the others). I really enjoyed this course. In terms of content, it wasn't much different from typical Earth Sciences here at Furman, but in terms of execution, we did something different. We watched disaster films to help get the main points across. I liked that approach, and I think most others did as well...even if some of the films made a laughing-stock of scientific credibility. Anyway, the first two tests...my scores were decent enough, but I wasn't too happy. I've tried to content myself with making Bs here and there when I know I've performed the best I could, but I wished I could've done better. So I was sweating a bit once the final exam rolled around. Fortunately, our class notes are almost all PowerPoint slides. One of my favorite study techniques that I came up with in the fall of sophomore year is to compile all of my slides together and play them constantly with Christmas music in the background. Unconventional, maybe, but it's worked every time I've tried it. So I used it once again this time, and we had our final on Tuesday. I walked out feeling much better. I rarely feel good after taking a test, but this time it seemed like everything fell into place, and I could dredge up more facts at will rather than sit there and scratch my head much of the time. It's gotta be the music, I tell you. In fact, I finished the exam and turned it in with just over an hour to spare. Which in retrospect turned out to be a God-send. Because that brings us to...
Adolescent Literature...I had to sweat and rush on this one more than I thought. The end product was a portfolio compiling all the work we had done up to that point, including a presentation and inquiry essay, along with online journals on all our readings. Easy, right? Not when you don't have a printer in your room. So this turned into lots of rushing back and forth to the library to attach files, load, and print them out. Not to mention I had to add on a few more items at the last minute in the hope of improving the overall product. There was also lesson-planning to turn in. My winter block lessons that I'll be using for my five classes at Mauldin High (English II and IV Honors). I've been working on those for months now, but I kept adding stuff up to the last minute before printing them out. Dr. Thomas will have to go through about 25 pages per class, but hey, that's what we have Livetext for, isn't it? So after compiling my objectives, evaluations, resources, and daily procedures into separate documents, along with finishing my portfolio, I headed to the Education Department with two binders tucked under my arm. Only to discover a horrifying reality: the office was closed. For a second, I felt like dropping the binders at my feet and screaming out all my pent-up frustration for any late-night crammers to hear. Hey, we all need distractions, right? But after a moment of panic, I decided to check the rooms first. Maybe somebody would have a key and let me in. To my immense relief, an amazingly kind ED professor (I think it was Dr. Ritter) was in Room 102, just about to leave for the evening. She let me in to drop my stuff off outside Dr. Thomas' office. What a blessing from God she was. After that, exhaustion hit me. I needed a Gatorade to boost my energy. I still had one thing left to do...
English-South Asian studies...Interesting course, to say the least. There were only six of us by the end. We spent most of the time trying to stay with Dr. Bhati, our professor who had a tendency to lose us whenever he lectured. But I liked him all right. He's unbelievably intelligent and very insightful...maybe a little too smart for us at times. I mean that in a nice way. Some professors who are extremely bright don't quite have the mental software to bring their insights down to a level we can understand. Not as easy as you might think. Anyway, we had a final paper. I thought I had that one in the bag when I turned in a draft that was intended to be the final, but as it turned out, it had a few significant flaws. So after I turned in my portfolio and downed some Gatorade, I headed to the library for some serious paper work. From about 8 PM until past midnight, I chugged away. I polished it the following morning and finally sent it off to Dr. Bhati. The final was a full page shorter than the original version, but oh well. Still safely within the acceptable page length standards. Hopefully, he'll be nice since he has to read these quickly.
What a semester. Tested me like no other. But it's over, and I'm still alive to enjoy the holidays with family and friends. Speaking of friends, I managed to attend TNT at BCM last week for the first time all year. Definiely an awkward feeling. I walked in, and fortunately they were all watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. Classic movie. So while their attention was mostly riveted on the screen, I slipped in and knelt down near the back of the room. And then Karrah Leary got up, came over, and hugged me, whispering how good it was to see me. Wow. What a child of God. I ended up praying with her and Will Swinson after TNT ended. She informed me that our family group was planning an intervention on my behalf, plotting to kidnap me for some activity of theirs. Haha. Best of luck tracking me down next semester. I didn't talk with too many people because I had to catch up with Karrah and Will, but I congratulated Dawn on her and Jon Dees' engagement. Cute couple and wonderful people. Jessie Rolland came by and said hello, as did Rodney. I later learned that Liz Fulmer got accepted into dental school so I sent her my congrats as well. But it was great to see old friends again and to sit in on TNT. Don't know if I'll be able to do so again, at least in the near future. Lauren Harris and I had a nice chat in the P-Den. Her internship at Advent Methodist (?) is going well. I also ran into Cara Morgan at the bookstore while I was purchasing my two binders. We didn't get a chance to talk then, but I caught up with her online later.
I warned you that I was going to ramble, didn't I? I guess I'll close it off here and give you a break. Hopefully I'll update some more over the holidays. Have a blessed day!
Well, fall term is past. It lived up to its epic billing all the way to the end. I don't know how I would've been able to survive without leaning on the everlasting arms of my Lord Jesus Christ. He is forever faithful, and just when I think I've hit the breakdown point and teetering on the verge of collapse, He gives me that last surge of energy to finish the work He began in me. That's just like our God, though. He never starts something that He won't finish.
Environmental Science class...the one and only class in which I had an actual written exam (not to worry; I had plenty to do for the others). I really enjoyed this course. In terms of content, it wasn't much different from typical Earth Sciences here at Furman, but in terms of execution, we did something different. We watched disaster films to help get the main points across. I liked that approach, and I think most others did as well...even if some of the films made a laughing-stock of scientific credibility. Anyway, the first two tests...my scores were decent enough, but I wasn't too happy. I've tried to content myself with making Bs here and there when I know I've performed the best I could, but I wished I could've done better. So I was sweating a bit once the final exam rolled around. Fortunately, our class notes are almost all PowerPoint slides. One of my favorite study techniques that I came up with in the fall of sophomore year is to compile all of my slides together and play them constantly with Christmas music in the background. Unconventional, maybe, but it's worked every time I've tried it. So I used it once again this time, and we had our final on Tuesday. I walked out feeling much better. I rarely feel good after taking a test, but this time it seemed like everything fell into place, and I could dredge up more facts at will rather than sit there and scratch my head much of the time. It's gotta be the music, I tell you. In fact, I finished the exam and turned it in with just over an hour to spare. Which in retrospect turned out to be a God-send. Because that brings us to...
Adolescent Literature...I had to sweat and rush on this one more than I thought. The end product was a portfolio compiling all the work we had done up to that point, including a presentation and inquiry essay, along with online journals on all our readings. Easy, right? Not when you don't have a printer in your room. So this turned into lots of rushing back and forth to the library to attach files, load, and print them out. Not to mention I had to add on a few more items at the last minute in the hope of improving the overall product. There was also lesson-planning to turn in. My winter block lessons that I'll be using for my five classes at Mauldin High (English II and IV Honors). I've been working on those for months now, but I kept adding stuff up to the last minute before printing them out. Dr. Thomas will have to go through about 25 pages per class, but hey, that's what we have Livetext for, isn't it? So after compiling my objectives, evaluations, resources, and daily procedures into separate documents, along with finishing my portfolio, I headed to the Education Department with two binders tucked under my arm. Only to discover a horrifying reality: the office was closed. For a second, I felt like dropping the binders at my feet and screaming out all my pent-up frustration for any late-night crammers to hear. Hey, we all need distractions, right? But after a moment of panic, I decided to check the rooms first. Maybe somebody would have a key and let me in. To my immense relief, an amazingly kind ED professor (I think it was Dr. Ritter) was in Room 102, just about to leave for the evening. She let me in to drop my stuff off outside Dr. Thomas' office. What a blessing from God she was. After that, exhaustion hit me. I needed a Gatorade to boost my energy. I still had one thing left to do...
English-South Asian studies...Interesting course, to say the least. There were only six of us by the end. We spent most of the time trying to stay with Dr. Bhati, our professor who had a tendency to lose us whenever he lectured. But I liked him all right. He's unbelievably intelligent and very insightful...maybe a little too smart for us at times. I mean that in a nice way. Some professors who are extremely bright don't quite have the mental software to bring their insights down to a level we can understand. Not as easy as you might think. Anyway, we had a final paper. I thought I had that one in the bag when I turned in a draft that was intended to be the final, but as it turned out, it had a few significant flaws. So after I turned in my portfolio and downed some Gatorade, I headed to the library for some serious paper work. From about 8 PM until past midnight, I chugged away. I polished it the following morning and finally sent it off to Dr. Bhati. The final was a full page shorter than the original version, but oh well. Still safely within the acceptable page length standards. Hopefully, he'll be nice since he has to read these quickly.
What a semester. Tested me like no other. But it's over, and I'm still alive to enjoy the holidays with family and friends. Speaking of friends, I managed to attend TNT at BCM last week for the first time all year. Definiely an awkward feeling. I walked in, and fortunately they were all watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. Classic movie. So while their attention was mostly riveted on the screen, I slipped in and knelt down near the back of the room. And then Karrah Leary got up, came over, and hugged me, whispering how good it was to see me. Wow. What a child of God. I ended up praying with her and Will Swinson after TNT ended. She informed me that our family group was planning an intervention on my behalf, plotting to kidnap me for some activity of theirs. Haha. Best of luck tracking me down next semester. I didn't talk with too many people because I had to catch up with Karrah and Will, but I congratulated Dawn on her and Jon Dees' engagement. Cute couple and wonderful people. Jessie Rolland came by and said hello, as did Rodney. I later learned that Liz Fulmer got accepted into dental school so I sent her my congrats as well. But it was great to see old friends again and to sit in on TNT. Don't know if I'll be able to do so again, at least in the near future. Lauren Harris and I had a nice chat in the P-Den. Her internship at Advent Methodist (?) is going well. I also ran into Cara Morgan at the bookstore while I was purchasing my two binders. We didn't get a chance to talk then, but I caught up with her online later.
I warned you that I was going to ramble, didn't I? I guess I'll close it off here and give you a break. Hopefully I'll update some more over the holidays. Have a blessed day!
posted by david @ 11:52 AM
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