Scheduled Chaos

Well, this semester is off to a splendid start so far. (I mean that both seriously and sarcastically.) Sarcastically because I came down with a cold the beginning of this second week of classes, but apparently that's just life these days. There seem to be some fierce viruses out there this year. I think I probably got it at swing dancing, which is not terribly surprising since there were a lot of people crammed in there this month...but I'm not giving up swing dancing to avoid catching colds! 

Seriously the semester is going splendidly because I'm mostly enjoying school so far! Mostly. I knew there were going to be things like papers I didn't want to write and such. (I'm sorry, who has a rough draft due tomorrow at noon? Me? But I'm blogging...) And obviously there's a lot of work that goes with 16 credit hours, but I'm finding that what's hard is not so much the work itself, but keeping track of all the  assignments to be turned in. It's sheer quantity over difficulty. Plus, I think it's made almost more confusing by the fact that I have only two different teachers and a lot of overlap in the classes, so I'm having trouble remembering what's supposed to be done for which class and how they want us to turn it in. Thankfully, I think I'm getting used to using Blackboard and finding my assignments on there, and I've figured out that if I take notes on there too then everything is online and I have all the assignments in one place. So it's manageable, which is what I needed, and now it's not driving me crazy like it was the first week. I realized yesterday that I feel like I've been at school forever already, so I guess I've settled in. :)

We're learning proofreading marks in both Text-Editing and Keyboarding, which is great. I proofread things anyway (Facebook drives me nuts as a result sometimes), and I'd learned all the marks before but they'd slipped my memory. However, and I didn't speak up and correct the teacher, because I don't want to be one of those homeschoolers, but she told us that "stet" is just a proofreading term that, "Well, it doesn't really stand for anything, but it means you leave the correction as is." At which I thought, "Um, I'm pretty sure it's a Latin word, that yes, does mean something along the lines of 'leave as is'." [It means "let it stand".] So, yeah... Some teachers I would've said something but not with this lady, as I don't think she'd appreciate it. She does have a bit of a sense of humor, but she made sure to scare us all the first day so nobody is getting too comfortable in her classes. (Incidentally, if I start posting your Facebook comments back to you, complete with editing, I apologize.) ;)

Lest you take that "it's great" to apply to Keyboarding too, let me assure you that Keyboarding is not great. The class is fine, it's just that I've taught myself to type and so I don't just have to learn to type, I have to unlearn what I'm used to doing. Oh yeah, and judging from how my fingers feel, I only type with the middle three fingers on either hand, and the thumb for the space bar of course. I'm supposed to be using my right little finger for the enter key and my finger is getting tired. So, lots of unlearning to do. Re-wiring...yay.

Anyway, in general, school is going well so far! I've just been too busy until now to blog about it. I'm definitely glad that I made a decision to sort of mentally and physically put aside at least this first year to really focus on school and get a good start on it, because there's no way I could add much on to this schedule and still get done as soon as I'd like. At least not with my low tolerance for stress. These first two weeks have shown that even weekend activities take purposeful scheduling to fit in. Granted, a lot of this is because I'm seriously out of the habit of getting schoolwork organized and done, and no doubt it will go a little bit smoother as the semester progresses. My mom just reminded me the other day that I'd said something at some point about how if this semester went really easily, maybe I could even work a job during my later semesters. I stared at her blankly for a moment, both having forgotten that I said that, and because the thought of working at the same time sounds slightly preposterous now. Well, I'll see how this year goes and decide about working after that.

Now I really should go work on that paper. I woke up this morning pretty much unable to talk because of the lingering effects of this cold, so I guess I might as well write!

Normal? Hardly.

My house was full of people New Year's Eve, and I think a discussion even came up at some point during the evening about how we all weren't exactly normal...but then, what is normal? :D Not my party, that's for sure.

I mean, there was the usual making sure people had food and drink, and making introductions, and taking coats, etc. But start with a game of Catchphrase (guaranteed to go slightly awkward at some point, with my group), try to keep the noise to a level quiet people can bear, connect various people's technology to the network, arrange and explain games, and handle the verbal sparring brought on by several guests who let no misspoken word slip by, and I had my hands full. Throw in a little counseling, mediation, and distribution of Advil to people recovering from frisbee pains and headaches...and you have a party that I'm not sure any hostess book would have all the etiquette tips for.

But, all that is exactly why it was awesome, and I loved every bit of it! :) My friends and I are all admittedly white and nerdy and probably 2/3 of us were homeschooled, so geeky references and reactions were abundant. A nerf war broke out at one point. Now that I think about it, I'm surprised there was no sword-fighting, either real or pretend. And there was a lot of caffeine...which affected some of us more than others.

The NYE countdown app on my iPod worked splendidly...I simply handed it to the tallest person once we went outside, and stood back so as not to be deafened by everyone's noisemakers. It certainly worked better than last year's sitting-on-the-remote debacle... :P And of course a few people took a celebratory run down the street and jogged back up blowing horns. (We have yet to hear complaints from my grandparents next door....but then, we haven't talked to them since Saturday...) Several of us also finished out the night at about one o'clock with a bit of swing dancing on the patio. (Next time I shall have to plan ahead: speakers and a playlist, for example.)

All in all, I think everyone had a good time, it was even better than last year (perhaps because there were twice as many people!), and barring unforeseen circumstances...next year should be great too. ;)

The December quote from my Jane Austen calendar: "One cannot have too large a party. A large party secures its own amusement." -Mr. Weston in Emma 
I think I agree.