Have you ever known someone who talks one in questions (that's the last question I'll ask, I promise)?

I have a professor who teaches the class entirely through asking questions. And it's driving me absolutely crazy. He'll ask something like "should you really say such and such at an interview?" like he's trying to make a point....which is fine....except he never quite gets to his point. His questions go unanswered, therefore leaving the class with a lot more questions, as well. We're never quite sure if we really should say such and such at an interview or not. It's all very confusing. Especially when the exams are all true and false and you remember talking about the subject, but you have no clue if the answer to the question he asked in class was yes or no. His true and false exams are kind of ironic when you think about it---the one time he has a legitimate reason for asking questions and the questions are posed as statements. If you follow my drift.

But I have all three of my papers done for tomorrow, and while I still haven't quite finished reading the novel for my spanish literature class, I've been feeling like I've deserved a break. So I've actually been indulging my girly side (many of my friends are often surprised to find out that yes, I do have a somewhat moderately girly side) and been shopping online for swimsuits and open-toed heels and all those other fun things that remind me of the sun and warmth and days without classes....

But it'll come soon enough. The countdown for spring break has officially started (and therefore my countdown till summer....). Maybe over break I'll actually have a reason to wear my new million dollar Victoria's Secret swimsuit and open toe heels. Man, I hope my girly side doesn't show again for a while...I don't think my budget can handle it!

Posted by blonde_gardner at 8:42 AM | Permalink

My back hurts from sitting all day and every time I close my eyes I can see little lights that resemble my laptop screen.... but I got my work done for today.

I spent today writing my five page magazine article, a ten page paper for American Labor History, calling and emailing (hopeful) sources for my magazine article, reading the novel La Familia de Pascual Duarte in its entierty, finding and researching the sources of several newspaper articles online, and tracking down the status of my Honors Contract.

I'm going to use the description my baby brother used to whine about as I sat at the kitchen table and helped him with homework: my brain hurts.

I'm not looking forward to my eight straight hours of classes tomorrow, nor the ten page spanish paper I have to start when I get out of those classes. But that's tomorrow. For now, I can relax. Kind of.

But I did find out that my Honors Contract got approved: so yay for me. For those who are interested, the lady I talked to said my little letter explaining my reasons behind taking plant bio really helped. So that's one less thing to worry about before graduation.

Posted by blonde_gardner at 4:00 PM | Permalink

It's officially been two weeks. Since I turned in my Honors contract for reviewal, that is. And I've got to admit, I'm getting kind of nervous.

According to my counselor, my contract was strong overall, except in the science section. They asked for a serious of science classes, which I did, but now they're telling me that the plant biology classes I've taken don't really "count as classes."

Horticulture is very important to my plans for my future (actually, pretty much all my future plans revolve around horticulture), and the plant bio classes, besides being a pre-req for a lot of classes I need to take for my hort minor, were the classes most suited to helping me reach my goals. Disecting a pig, while interesting enough, will not help me in my future.

So why are the classes I needed to take not counted as "real classes"? Isn't one of the main points of college to help you achieve your goals, broadening the horizon for both yourself and our society? I just don't see, then, how taking classes I don't need (or want to take, for that matter) will broaden my horizons. All I see is a lot of wasted time and money. But this is just my opinion.

I wrote a letter explaining my reasons for taking plant biology instead of regular biology, asking whoever reviews my contract to take it into consideration, and attached it to my contract. Hopefully they'll listen to my plea.

If they don't.....then I have no idea what I'm going to do. I have ten more classes to take in my last two quarters--that's five classes a quarter. I don't really have room to move things around. If they say that I need to take more sciences classes...I just don't know. I've been working like crazy to graduate with honors in less than three years. And so far I'm succeeding...but is it really worth staying another quarter, spending more money and time, taking classes I don't want or need to take for my goals just to have the words "with honors" printed on my diploma?

But we'll see. I'm not sure how long it'll take for them to review my contract. Once I find out whether or not they've accepted it I'll be able to think more about what decisions I need to make.

p.s....more info about honors and scholars can be found at:

http://www.honors-scholars.ohio-state.edu/

Posted by blonde_gardner at 1:05 PM | Permalink

I just got out of an exam, and realized I made a mistake on one of the questions. Don't ya hate it when that happens? You've just handed in the test when the answer comes to you. Ugh. In my case, it was a true or false question (which, in my opinion, need to be banned).

School life's been busy. Out-of-school life's been busy. Mainly, actually, my life's been consumed with writing. Newpaper articles, magazine articles, query letters, scholarship applications, essays, lab reports, petitions to professors, emails asking nicely for recommendation letters, this blog....

One article I'm writing has me excited, though... an article about the Cincinnati Flower Show. After a long, cold winter here in Ohio, (which you're all very well aware of by now) I can't tell you how wonderful it is (for a plant person, anyways) to be able to spend a (hopefully warm) week on the beach of Lake Como at Coney Island absolutely surrounded by blooms, interesting plants, container gardens, and people who actually get as excited at the sight of a well-formed hosta as you do.

The show isn't just for plant people, though. There's other product booths, a food show (free food? Come on, what college student can pass that up?), lots of activities for kids, a green industry section, and pretty much just a general atmosphere of wonderfulness (I might be a tad bit biased).

This year the show's April 19-27 at Coney Island (in Cincinnati...). Just in case anyone's interested.

Posted by blonde_gardner at 11:40 AM | Permalink

If you've lived in Cincinnati for any amount of time, chances are you've heard of WEBN. Maybe you've even tuned into the station while driving at some point. I'd attempt to explain what that radio station means to some people....but I can't. Imagine it's a lazy afternoon in the middle of summer, you're sittin in the back of your pick-up truck down by the river with a group of friends watching canoers tip over, drinking beer (if you're over 21...) and grilling out with Hellyeah playing on your truck stereo. That's like webn. Either you love it...or ya don't.

One of my favorite things about warm weather is driving fast in the middle of nowhere (aka the area around my house in Cinci) down by the river with my windows down and blaring webn, usually with my german shepherd hanging her head out the window. I've been told countless times that it sounds completely idiotic (along with a bunch of my other favorite ways to pass time...), but hey, welcome to my area of the nati. Now the point of these paragraphs: I just got my computer to connect to webn, and although studying for exams isn't exactly cruisin down by the river, I'm pretty much a happy camper. All because of webn.

Posted by blonde_gardner at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)