It's only October, for crying out loud

And already, look at what I have to do THIS WEEK:

Grade exams, papers, quizzes, more exams, more papers, more quizzes. Did I use to think this was actually fun?

Rewrite a prospectus for my Civil War research paper since the one I wrote before was a) on a topic that I'm no longer interested in, b) quite awful, according to my professor, and c) counts for quite a bit of my grade. Did I mention I got points knocked off because it was marked "Late" when I distinctly remember bringing it to class and turning it in on the day marked in the syllabus? Mmmm-hmm. Oh, you better believe this is not the end of that little story. My professor will be in London over the weekend preparing a conference, but when he gets back, there will be a conflict beyond all comparison with the Civil War ones.

Write up a (immodestly humongous) proposal for a huge AmSt project that is supposed to take over my life for the next two months and change history for all time. I'm pretty much supposed to know exactly everything in the world about the project BEFORE I've researched it, and it's worth roughly 10,000,000 points plus my immortal soul, so yeah, it's kindofabig deal.

Write a 3-4 page paper on Emerson, due Monday. I've already got the outline and am pretty sure I could do it in a day, but WHO HAS A DAY TO SPARE!?

Read until my brain or my eyes give out - I have chunky (thick), clunky (boring) readings for all four of my classes, not to mention a ton of extra reading to do for the CW and AmSt paper/project/big monstrous deathtraps.

Spend all day Saturday at a (required) field trip - we're going to Arches National Park. Can I bring my laptop and write in the car? Maybe. Will I do it anyway? Yes.

And this is all for THIS WEEK. Next week, I've got THIS to look forward to:

10 reviews to start (thankfully, not finish) writing for my film class
Assignment on Experiment in Criticism for my film class (15 paragraphs... that's like, SEVEN PAGES!)
3 novels, whups, JOURNAL ENTRIES, required for my AmSt class
CW test and notes to type up (a relatively low priority, but essential nonetheless if I hope to raise my grade beyond its current status of "UGH!!!")
Finish Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey (which wouldn't take so long if he didn't insist on techniques such as using at least 20 different words to say "rock" and 30 adjectives to describe "dirt.")
Grading, grading, grading - I guess this is why professors need TAs, huh?

I haven't even talked about my life outside of school, but that's pretty much because it doesn't exist. I still go to the International Cinema, the Asian Cinema Club (well, actually I missed the last one - Yip Man - have you seen it, Kirsti? Joseph?), the occasional lecture (LOVED Terryl Given's presentation on the provenance and prominence of Christian themes in the Book of Mormon, by the way), and plays at BYU when I can. Yesterday I took Sarah and Hannah to BYU to see "Psycho" (1960) - it was the first time any of us had seen it, and I think we all enjoyed the experience, though none of us is likely to repeat it any time soon.

As for the movie itself, four things jumped out at/surprised/intrigued me: 1) How calm and tame the shower scene appeared in contrast to my expectations - the violin music didn't even seem all that grating or frightening, to be honest. 2) How many times I had to keep reminding myself that Norman Bates was despicable and villainous, and never mind that he's so attractive and friendly and softspoken and really just a poor troubled....ah, there it goes again. It was just so much easier to dislike him before I ever saw the film! 3) How WELL the strings-only musical score worked - it never felt lacking or inappropriate for the scene, kept the tensions high but not unbearably so, and gave me real live heebie-jeebies during the second murder and the fruit cellar scenes - yipes! Just thinking about it sends a shiver down my spine. Don't you looooove that feeling!?????? The answer is yes. Especially in October. 4) It's rated "R." I did not know this until the movie was over, and it struck me as odd since I couldn't remember any cursing, excessive or degrading nudity, or graphic violence at all in the film. I don't how big of a deal the "R" rating was in 1960, and ratings don't really bother me since I've come to terms with the fact that my own "moral sentiment," as Emerson calls it, is a stricter and more authoritative (as well as more correct) judge than the MPAA in my experience, but anyway, that little "R" ignited a heated debate in the car, which developed into a quarrel, which climaxed into a full-blown argument with all the family involved in a battle over grandiose themes of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There were yells, there were tears, there were interruptions and impassioned pleas - it was like the Civil War happening right here in our living room. Anyway, we eventually separated, the North to the upstairs and the South to the downstairs, licking our wounds and preparing future amunition for counterattacks in our minds, but we eventually reconciled the next morning in the Appomattox Bathroom. So all's well that ends well, I guess. Though, as we know from both Reconstruction and "Psycho 2," it ain't over till it's over.

P.S.

Kirsti's comment and an unexpected blessing today - in the form of my Civil War professor coming down with the stomach flu and cancelling class (bless these little children who make their daddies sick!) today - have compelled me add one more thing to the "Good" list: I'm NOT SICK!

Half-way Through

This week has been a bit of a roller coaster so far.

Bad news first. This week so far: I got a parking ticket, I stayed up past midnight grading papers on Monday and Tuesday, I racked my brains during both my Civil War and Emerson class but was unable to come up with a single comment on Monday or Tuesday, I forgot about and didn't get the email reminding me about the quiz for my Western class (yeah, I'm just going to call it that from now on) on Tuesday, I made a mistake grading one student's paper and had to fix it to my great embarrasment, I lost a writing contest, and I still haven't found a good book to replace my last one (sorry, Dad - it's been too recent since I've read That Hideous Strength).

Not quite related to this week specifically, but to my feelings in general this week - I STILL haven't been able to come up with a good project for my Western class, I'm not happy with my Civil War paper proposal, I have a ton of grading and typing up and busy work to do in ALL my classes, and I don't get enough sleep or exercise to make me happy. It doesn't help my mood any that the last three weeks my film class has focused on very dark, violent themes of injustice, betrayal and murder - it can be very touching and insightful but is also pretty exhausting.

Lest you worry that I'm contemplating suicide at this point, I'll move right on with the good news.

The ticket was only $10, one of my professors cancelled class on Monday, I FINALLY made a friend in film class, the bus was on time pretty much all week, my Western professor let me take the quiz anyway and I got 100% on the objective part, I made lots of comments in Emerson class today and did all the reading for film class, I went to and thoroughly enjoyed the dance devotional on Tuesday, I found out about a neat lecture being given tomorrow by Terryl Givens, I finally finished An Experiment in Criticism, I decided I didn't care about the writing contest and am too busy to start reading a new book anyway, it's October and I like October, and we had spaghetti for dinner on Monday.

How's everyone else's week going?

Feeling Happy

I took a little weekend off, from schoolwork and from blogging, and am feeling much refreshed now and ready to tackle the books and everything else tomorrow morning. We'll see how long that feeling lasts - I predict until 6 am tomorrow morning - but in the meantime, I'm enjoying it.

I mainly spent the weekend watching General Conference with my family. For any non-LDS readers, by the way, General Conference is a semi-annual meeting for all the members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where all the apostles, the prophet, and some other leaders of our church speak. It sounds a little crazy to be excited about listening to people talking for eight hours (in two-hour periods over two days, but still) but that's how it is, and I can't remember a time when I wasn't thrilled about General Conference. I used to draw pictures while I took notes, then I started drawing pictures of the speakers or their topics, but now I can take notes for the whole time without losing interest in the message. Too bad I can't have the zeal when it comes to all of my classes, eh? Anyway, I loved all the talks but especially Elder (Elder is a title of the priesthood in our church) Jeffrey R. Holland's, about the witness of the Book of the Mormon (The Book of Mormon is a second book of scripture that witnesses of Jesus Christ), and Elder David A. Bednar's talk about how we need to say, mean, and do certain things, like bear our testimonies to our families and express love to each other.

Well, I guess I'd better get to bed now. Tomorrow will probably be busy - I have three classes to go to, and a lot of grading and reading to do. Not to mention that I need a new library book to read... any suggestions?

Warning: Contents may be Incoherent and/or Depressing

It's late and it's been a long day, so I'll make this short and sweet. Or at least short. Today was disappointing in comparison with other days. I spent a TON of time - 10,000 hours, roughly - grading my students' papers and short writing assignments, and when I wasn't doing that I was reading for my classes or going to my classes.

I really love both of my classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but there is a lot of pressure to do well on all the assignments, take fantastic notes, make profound comments, and sometimes I just feel inadequate. I found out today that my Western Culture teacher is teaching a class on the writings of Cormac McCarthy next winter semester and I REALLY want to take it! It took me a while to get on the McCarthy wagon, since he's dark and dreary and doesn't use punctuation, but after reading All the Pretty Horses, I'm on.

Civil War class is pretty much my very favorite history class ever (after American Heritage). We talk about politics, we talk about battles, we talk about economics, and I've never been so interested in anything in my entire life. That's how good my teacher's lectures are. And get this - I'm actually on top of all the reading and haven't failed a single quiz yet! Bad news though - I didn't do so great on the first test (the one I thought I did really good on). History teachers must just have a different mindset than me when it comes to writing! I've only taken two other history-based classes, and both of them were extraordinarily picky about my essays. Oh well, I can still definitely improve over the semester, and at least this teacher gave me some actual, concrete things I know how to work on to improve the next test (he took TEN points off because I hadn't known he wanted us to write introductions, conclusions, and transitions in between the "meat" of our main essay; other than that, he remarked that I had "covered all the essentials." So apparently, "covering all the essentials" gets you a B. Doh!). The last thing I want to do is have a repeat experience of my Fall 2007 semester (a B+!!!!!!!!! I WANTED TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), but I'm not feeling nearly as depressed as I was then. It could be because I really, really, really like this teacher, which means I really want to work super hard to impress him (rather than beat him over the head with a projector, like I wanted to do to my other teacher). I also LOVE his lectures (unlike those of the other teacher, which were more boring than the footnotes of a finance magazine). And of course, I love the material (and I probably would have loved the material of the other class, if we had ever gotten around to talking about it in English).

I stayed late in the American Studies office grading assignments and listening to crowds scream when it got late enough for all the volleyball/soccer/whatever games to start going. Apparently, there's a football game tomorrow, but I plan to spend the whole day reading/going to class/going to the International Cinema ("The Heiress" and "Crossing" are playing), so don't count on an update from me on that. The screams were a nice distraction from work, though.

I can't wait for the weekend! Although, wait, I have 17 poetry papers to grade and a zillion little assignments and Civil War notes to type up and several books to finish reading and library stuff to return before then. Will it ever end?