Good Deeds...

I like helping people however I am able to.

In my organic/biochemistry class there is a deaf woman who cannot take notes and watch her sign language interpreter at the same time.

I had taken notes for a disabled man in my math class last Spring so I volunteered to scan and email my notes again.
I have a bit of dyslexia so I write my notes in different colors so they are easier to read and later study.

I am a little proud of my note-taking abilities.
Particularly my line drawings {I think they look quite nice}.

Example A:

Example B:

This one was a more difficult example that we had to work on our own. I will admit it took me about 3 minutes whereas the previous ones took me about 30-60 seconds.
{Why yes, I am being boastful! I feel impressive that I understand these concepts so quickly!}

Anywho, I am happy that I can help this woman to continue her education and be able to fully experience the class.

College...

Is a place for higher learning, personal & career growth and maturity.
Or at least that is how I perceive it.

At my school there is a "cafe" area that you can eat your food and work on homework or study in relative comfort. This was my preferred spot to eat my lunch/dinner while I was taking summer classes and it was very nice {mainly due to the few other students and great staff}.

Now it is Fall semester.

There are {naturally} more students now and a good portion are the right-out-of-high-school freshman.
Most of these kids {I say kids because they act as if they are still in middle or secondary school} are loud, obnoxious, rude and down-right crude {aka hoodlums}.
There are even a few that are so arrogant and aggressive, that I would not want look at them "wrong" for fear of being confronted or assaulted.

I still eat my lunch/dinner in the cafe, but I keep to myself {usually with homework or my computer}.
When I want to do some heavy studying I go to the library, because it is one of the few places that people will act accordingly with their surroundings.

What happened to the scholarly and respectful atmosphere that college and college students used to have?

Just sayin' :)

Here, let me give you a Hand...

I was confusing metacarpals and metatarsals during my studying session this morning and since I am a visual person, I came up with the following solution:

Granted I probably shouldn't label my entire body {I sure as hell will not be allowed to take any tests in such a state} but this does help me remember in the long run.
I did consider taking a photocopy of my hand and then labeling the picture but I did not want to use the copy machine at that moment. I later found a suitable picture online and printed it for labeling.

Anywho, back to studying!

Metatarsals are in your feet, by the way. :)

Update...

I have successfully finished the first week of Fall semester.
I am going to be slammed with studying and homework for the foreseeable future.
With that said I will try to post something at least once a week on Random History but cannot guarantee it.
I will have to fit in a part time job along with my studies this semester so that considerably decreases the time that I will be blogging.
Anywho, I have to start looking for a job now before my school work gets too bogged down. :)

I Hate You

Mosquitoes!!!

I hate how sneaky you are and how you seem to think that my body is an All-You-Can-Eat buffet!!

Silly...

Every time I see Dale, I am reminded of you...

Argh...

My brain hurts! :(
I took the second (of five) practice ACT exams that came with my ACT prep workbook today.
Overall I increased my score by 5 points. {I am not sure if that is good or not to be honest.}
The math section is still kicking my butt, mainly because I know jack crap about trigonometry and the way they word the questions can be very confusing.
To top it all off, each section is timed.
Ridiculously timed.
As in 60 math questions in 60 minutes.
Most people might think that amount of time is not that big of a deal but for math dummies like me, it is huge. 
I end up guessing on several in the hopes that I picked the right answer.

I take the ACT on Thursday {as in three days from now} and then I start the Fall semester on Monday.
I still have to buy my textbooks!! Crap!

Stuff...

I was looking around my apartment/room and I came to the realization that I have a lot of stuff. : /

Small things that I have collected in the last 6-7 years.
Elephant figures from the Texas State Fair, gifts from old co-workers, art projects from high school, etc.

I came to the decision that these things either need a face lift {spray paint} or they need to be donated to The Salvation Army.

I need to be honest with myself and get rid of the things that I don't need or use on a regular {at least once a week} basis.

That includes clothes, shoes, belts, and bags.
Fortunately, I am pretty good at letting things go.
{Except my books and my paintings, of course!}

Couldn't Sleep...

I mentioned that when I get bored I doodle, right?
{See Random About Me #7}

So last night for some reason I couldn't wind down to go to sleep and ended up doodling on scrap paper.
Which led me to doodling on my hand, which then led to my forearm.
You get the idea.

Every now and then I think about what it would look like if I had a tattoo.
{See Random About Me #5}

I usually relieve myself of this curiosity by drawing something on the desired area and then just looking at it for a few minutes.

Nothing fancy, just random swirls and marks.

I had this randomness going all the way around my forearm from wrist to elbow.
When I put the black on it reminded me of scanning a sketch into Photoshop and then coloring over it to make web comics {or other cool images}.

All of my scribbles were washed off shortly after taking these pictures. :)
Can't do that with a real tattoo!
{Which is probably one reason why I don't have any!}

Studying...

My desk tends to get pretty crowded whenever I am studying.
I like to spread out so I have everything I need right at my finger tips {in some cases literally}.
The ACT prep studying isn't too bad when it comes to that so far.
Pretty much contained...

I have two tables set up in an upper case "L" shape to make my desk space. There are definitely stuff on here that don't need to be, but I have no where else to put them.
The coffee is a must!
This is actually one of my Mom's coffee cups that I borrowed {and returned} from that morning.

At this point I am already into chapter 15 of my workbook {only one more to go before the practice tests} and wondering if I should get another workbook.
{Can you tell that I REALLY want to get a good grade??}

ACT Studying and Shame...

I always thought I was pretty good when it came to English (grammar, punctuation, etc.), but after going through the first 4 chapters of my ACT prep book I realized that I am not much better than most {semi-intelligent} people.
{Pretty sure I made errors all throughout that sentence}

I can read sentences and usually tell when something is off, which helps keep me on the higher end of the grading scale at the end.

Fortunately, this book is very helpful and I will definitely be keeping it for future reference. :)

Pretty sad when English is your native language and you still can't get it right! :/

Books Update

I came into my room and noticed that I had left a book open on the bed that I had been reading earlier and it reminded me that I haven't listed my current reading list in a while.

So below is a list of the books that I am currently reading. :)

{1} Dracula by Bram Stoker
{2} Mad Kings and Queens by Alison Rattle & Allison Vale
{3} Troublesome Young Men by Lynne Olson (said book on bed)
{4} Living Judaism by Rabbi Wayne Dosick
{5} The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
{6} Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
{7} Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (I actually finished this one yesterday)

I have a feeling I am forgetting one or two more but I can't seem to find them, maybe they are in my car or backpack...

...and starting tomorrow I will be reading/studying/working through ACT for Dummies.

I take the test in roughly two weeks and I want to get as high a score as my brain will allow. I took it about 6 years ago and received an average score {which I think is pretty good considering that I did not study for it one bit} so I am hoping I do better this go around.

Most of these books I have put on hold in order to focus on school but I always keep at least one in my purse for the times when I need a break or something else to do.

Good night! :)

Grades...

Almost forgot to post my grades from the summer session.

Drum roll.......

Chemistry - A
Medical Terminology - A

Woohoo! I thought I would never get through those classes!
For the record I took both of those classes during an 8 week session. Fall and Spring sessions last for 16 weeks. {Not to brag or anything but that was A LOT of info to learn in 8 weeks}

I also became friends with a girl in my chemistry class. We seem to have a lot of the same interests so hopefully this is the beginning of a good friendship. :)

Girly Stuff

I found a new clothing website that I love! :D

Shabby Apple
{www.shabbyapple.com}

I love the dresses so much, this is the kind of classy clothing that I would love to wear.

Speaking of classy, I watched "Mr. Hobbs takes a Vacation" with Maureen O'Hara and James "Jimmy" Stewart the other day with my mom. I thought it was really cute and funny. The humor is dry and you have to be paying attention to get some of it but I really enjoyed it. :)

 Jimmy Stewart reminded me of my own grandfather and Maureen O'Hara was just beautiful and classy.

Test - Random History page

So since I decided to something other than use this blog as a public diary I spent most of this morning figuring out how I wanted it to work/look. :)

I now have a separate blog just for Random History but it is linked with this one and looks almost exactly the same.

One day I will also have link from this blog (and the other blog) to a website for my photography. :D
First I have to have the money to pay for the website!!

Anywho, I am excited about this new adventure in my life.