Blog #12

b*Have you met anyone new who is important to you? Have you rekindled any old friendships that have made you stronger?

I've known Chris for 4-5 years now, but never really got to know him until this year, seeing as I share 80% of my classes with him this term (except anatomy lab and sociology).

Other than that, I've had a really tough time making friends out of my UN100 cohorts - what friends I have made of my peers have been half-friendships, and I'm not socially skilled enough to maintain medium-depth friendships. You're either my best friend whom I pledge undying loyalty to, whom I invest lots of emotional stake, or you're someone I just smile and say hello to in the hallway. I'm really bad at small talk, and really bad at maintaining friendships in the middle, especially to 18-19 year old girls, especially when they're cool (or hot!) and I might end up liking them when I'm still crazy about Kasey (even after 4 years!). Especially when I'm a complete dork and they can't stand me anyway.

*Have you experienced any major changes academically or personally?

I found myself reprioritizing my study habits. To be honest, I really cared a lot at the beginning of the semester about everything, and as about week 5-6 rolled around I figured out which classes I needed to care about and cared more in these classes and less in others. I prioritized sociology a bit low around midterm time, bombed one test and learned my lesson.

I think the most important thing I learned this semester I learned in school but not in any of my classes, and that is: keep real life and school life separate. Real life has been pretty much hell for the last 4-5 months and it's been tough enough just to keep my head above water financially, and I've lost a lot of sleep for it. That said, I haven't slacked off too much and I've kept whipping myself into doing my homework. When I go to class, I leave my real life behind, and become an entirely different person.

I've also found that I behave differently in each class too:

• In Anatomy, I tune everyone out except Dr. Froiland. No matter how many asides Chris tries to sneak in there, I pretty much blow him off, not to be a douchebag but because I seriously need to copy down every word he says.
• In Chemistry, I try to pay attention. I really do. But I seriously learned this crap in 11th grade. On the last quiz (6) I was the only person to get 20/20 in my class. (Surprised me!) I'm not pulling 100% like I was for the first 6 weeks, I miss one here and there and my lab grades aren't perfect. This is the only class where I'm guilty of doing my blog, Facebook, games, etc. I just can't pay attention when it's crap I already know. Dr. Li's teaching it fine, it's just seriously stuff I already learned. She has in the past pulled me out of a game I was playing, had me come up to the board and I was like boom boom bang done. (Funny story. Once, I was actually paying attention, and she had me come up to the board and I made like four mistakes and had to go back to the board twice to the comic relief of the class, but I was a zombie that morning and didn't care, lol.)
• In Freshman Seminar, I actually feel like I can be myself. You have no idea how valuable that is, to have an environment where I can be comfortable in front of people that I didn't know until now and would never otherwise hang around with (mostly because I'm 26 and they're 18-19) and I've learned that cheerleaders are people too :) but they hate being studied sociologically!
• In Sociology, well, that's a whole other story. Love the class, and it's super easy, but the book is so difficult and unjoyous to read that I can't stay focused in it, and I can't study from it. So I consistently pull 82-88% on my exams (less one bomb).
  

*What is your one BEST or FAVORITE memory of this semester?

Outside of school: probably playing Rubber Fest in Escanaba on 10/14.
In school: playing Cigarette for my sociology class, all while wearing that Scream-Meets-Terminator mask I had.

*How will you live your life to the fullest?

I can't live my life to the fullest, because I have too much responsibility in me. If I were to live life to the fullest, I'd be a touring musician. Can't support yourself, let alone a family, on that, and you can't further your education while you're doing that either. So I grew up. *shrug* Hell, I get blown off by the other musicians in fucking Marquette!