14 weeks till parole, I mean graduation

This has been a tough few months. Those of you who read my posts and/or follow me, or maybe the collective 'you' in you're are really just a bunch of bots (yay for alliteration!), who knows, ahhh I digress, you know I'm rather sensitive for an INTJ. Actually, I'm just better at expressing my feelings through written word. I figured that out when someone was talking to me about an opportunity and I said "I'm really excited, I would love to do that," and I could feel my face and it didn't exactly feel as if it was giving off the "I'm really excited, I would love to do that"face. At least I acknowledge my shortcomings. I keep dreaming about a certain someone, maybe once a week, and I'm not the type of person to talk myself into hating someone I couldn't exactly stay mad at, let alone get mad at, so it's making it very difficult to 'move on,' more specifically, I haven't met anyone recently where there's a spark…I need the damn spark! What's not helping either is the sample pool of potential dating specimens. I've met some quirky guys, nothing wrong with quirky, I'm quirky, but I've also encountered some not so nice ones too. It comes with the territory, but it's kind of hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that I 'met' (only messaged online) a guy that told me I don't eat enough (who the hell do you think you are?!), I shouldn't and don't need to work out (again, really who the hell do you think you are?!), and in order for us to have a relationship (again, I never met him!), I'd need to compromise with him (isn't this like a we've been dating for six months talk??) and allow him to cook for me (maybe this could work…), but his cooking would have to be his way because he refuses to cook "healthy hipster Whole Foods crap" (ehhh, I don't think it's gonna work...) and I would need to gain a few pounds (nope. Definitely not gonna work…). I've very picky, I've come to terms with this too. I'm not asking guys out for coffee either anymore. Sometimes I think I'm the one with balls, but I just can't find them…Besides looking for someone I'd actually be willing and wanting to spend time with, I'm working on my last semester. Hopefully I'll graduate with my remaining hair and the migraines and anxiety will magically go poof. Until then, I'll cry just a little each time I find a strand of hair not on my head. One day, my hair will be as magnificent as it was in Kindergarten.

I'm backkkk…with my usual attitude

     I'm back. Spring semester has sprung, I mean begun, and this is my last undergraduate semester, ever. Am I excited, overjoyed, ecstatic? You bet I am. The first week is the toughest (I know the rhythm and sound of that sentence reminds you of some Sheryl Crow song, but I assure you, it's a novel idea, maybe). I've been pissed this week.
     My roommate is annoying. She's always cold or something isn't working correctly in the apartment (and they don't submit a maintenance request; no common sense?) or, again, they're cold, e.g. "the cold makes me like, physically ill, like, I'm not from here," or people, in general, feel the need to tell me what I "should" or "shouldn't" do.
     The moral of the story is that I don't want to live with roommates again--that is unless we're really good friends and have the same desired cleanliness level and they have common sense, or I love them. I don't even have time to mention the used-to-be-white-bathtub-which-is-now-grey and getting grayer every few days…seriously, what do you need Tide HE laundry detergent for if you're washing your clothes in a bathtub…sigh...

A semester in review

The Fall 2013 semester…is over…already! It feels as though it just started, but I'm glad it's over anyway. This semester was, by far, the most productive and interesting semester I've had. It was challenging (for multiple reasons, some reasons I alluded to in previous posts), fun and I learned, to use rather insignificant words, 'a lot' about myself. Hands-on courses have been the most challenging for me, and knowing that, I knew Rhetoric of Nonlinear Documents would be influential. There were  sparkles, shards of mirror and tears, but I was correct, I learned an unbelievable amount and figured out (finally) that I'm capable of doing/producing/thinking/writing more than I believed I could. I have three favorite professors and two of them are from this past semester. These professors have a few things in common; they required quality work (a lot of it) and their courses made me think. Of course their sphere of influence reached many more than just I. I made friends (!!!) (I know, you're thinking, 'that's not easy for an INTJ). One of them decided he didn't want a corporate job, he wanted to travel and "work with my [his] hands!" One professor convinced me--it didn't take much convincing--that it's 'obvious' I should continue with education. I'll never forget what he said; in particular that it's so clear I have what it takes to succeed in graduate school. So that's my plan--grad school. Key word; visual rhetoric.

Before I forget, I'm super excited about my extra curricular activities for Spring. I'll be coauthoring an article on image and word with a professor (I'm still working on taking a broad topic and focusing in on one manageable aspect) which will, hopefully and most likely, be published in a journal. If I were to publish as an undergrad, and I apply for doctoral programs with that on my resume...well that's three head nods as one professor gestured. 

I may have the opportunity to work on an editorial job for the chair of the school as well. So now that I'm on holiday, I'm preparing for Spring. I'll be reading Walter Ong's Orality and Literacy, finishing The Magic Mountain, IRB training and teaching myself Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. Thank god for Lynda.com... This is going to be the most productive holiday break--ever.